Jonathan Moskin Comments on Supreme Court Free Speech and Trademark Case

Foley & Lardner LLP partner Jonathan Moskin is quoted in the Reuters article, “‘Trump Too Small’ T-shirt slogan turns into US Supreme Court battle,” offering insight on a U.S. Supreme Court case exploring the intersection of trademark law and free speech rights.

The case centers on Steve Elster’s 2018 trademark of a slogan and whether the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment free speech protections for criticism of public figures outweighs the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s concerns over a person’s name being exploited for another’s commercial gain.

“To give Elster a [trademark] registration, I don’t think it really enhances in any way his right to speak,” said Moskin, who wrote a brief in support of the agency on behalf of the International Trademark Association. “He can put his slogan anywhere he wants – whether or not he gets a registration.”

Moskin also noted that the Supreme Court’s decision from June in a trade dress case between a whiskey brand and a dog toy company that parodied its bottles may have “pulled back a little bit” from earlier precedents.