Supreme Court's hearing of 'The Slants' case to examine line between trademarks, First Amendment, dean says


LAWRENCE — The Supreme Court began its new term Monday and will hear a case regarding disparaging trademarks and the First Amendment. The case, involving an Asian-American band called The Slants, is also expected to resolve a case involving the Washington Redskins football team.

Federal law prevents trademarks that are deemed disparaging. A federal appeals case found the Lanham Act’s provision regarding disparaging trademarks unconstitutional. Kevin L. Smith, dean of University of Kansas Libraries and a copyright law expert, is available to speak with media about the case, trademark law, the First Amendment, previous rulings in The Slants’ case, the Washington Redskins case and related topics.

“These two cases come to the court by very different, and complex, routes, but they present an important question that is, in essence, easy to understand. It is the intersections between trademarks, which serve a very specific purpose to identify the source of goods or services, and the First Amendment guarantee of free expression,” Smith said. “When the government decides which trademarks can be registered and which ones are too ‘offensive,’ the Supreme Court has an obligation to be sure that First Amendment values are being protected.”

Smith is an expert in issues of copyright, intellectual property licenses and scholarly publishing. He holds a juris doctor from Capital University Law School, a master’s degree in library science from Kent State University and master’s degree in religion from Yale Divinity School. Smith is a well-known leader in the field of scholarly communications and has a lengthy list of published articles, keynote addresses and essays.

To schedule an interview, contact Mike Krings at 785-864-8860 or mkrings@ku.edu.

Tue, 10/04/2016

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Mike Krings

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