Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Vacates Decision & Orders En Banc Hearing
April 28th, 2015
In re Tam, Appeal No. 2014-1203
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit vacated its decision issued on April 20, 2015 in which it affirmed the TTAB’s ruling that the applied for mark, THE SLANTS, belonging to an Asian America band, is derogatory to persons of Asian descent. The court issued a sua sponte order to hear the appeal en banc and focus on whether “the bar on registration of disparaging marks in 15 U.S.C. § 1052(a) violates the First Amendment?”