Stabilizing Morality in Trademark Law

Authors

Christine Haight Farley, American University Washington College of LawFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2014

Journal

American University Law Review

Volume

63

Abstract

Almost all of the commentary concerning the statutory prohibition on registering offensive trademarks lambasts it as a misguided attempt to enforce civility through trademark law. This Article carefully considers the challenges accompanying section 2(a) of the U.S. Trademark Act and defends it as good policy. There are, however, a few instances in which the jurisprudence under section 2(a) has created more problems than it has solved. To alleviate these problems, this Article proposes judging words per se and abandoning the traditional trademark notion of evaluating words in context. Judging words per se is warranted given the very different objectives underlying section 2(a) as compared with the rest of the Trademark Act.

Recommended Citation

Christine H. Farley, Stabilizing Morality in Trademark Law, 63 (2014).
Available at: https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/facsch_lawrev/912