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Page Number: 18

14 

MATAL v. TAM 

Opinion of the Court 

tible  to  dangerous  misuse. 
If  private  speech  could  be 
passed  off  as  government  speech  by  simply  affixing  a 
government  seal  of  approval,  government  could  silence  or 
muffle  the  expression  of  disfavored  viewpoints.    For  this 
reason,  we  must  exercise  great  caution  before  extending
our government-speech precedents.

At  issue  here  is  the  content  of  trademarks  that  are 
registered by the PTO, an arm of the Federal Government. 
The Federal Government does not dream up these marks, 
and  it  does  not  edit  marks  submitted  for  registration.
Except  as  required  by  the  statute  involved  here,  15
U. S. C.  §1052(a),  an  examiner  may  not  reject  a  mark 
based  on  the  viewpoint  that  it  appears  to  express.    Thus, 
unless that section is thought to apply, an examiner does 
not inquire whether any viewpoint conveyed by a mark is
consistent  with  Government  policy  or  whether  any  such
viewpoint  is  consistent  with  that  expressed  by  other
marks  already  on  the  principal  register.    Instead,  if  the 
mark  meets  the  Lanham  Act’s  viewpoint-neutral  require-
ments,  registration  is  mandatory. 
Ibid.  (requiring  that
“[n]o  trademark  . . .  shall  be  refused  registration  on  the
principal  register  on  account  of  its  nature  unless”  it  falls
within  an  enumerated  statutory  exception).
  And  if  an 
examiner finds that a mark is eligible for placement on the 
principal  register,  that  decision  is  not  reviewed  by  any
higher  official  unless  the  registration  is  challenged.    See 
§§1062(a), 1071; 37 CFR §41.31(a) (2016).  Moreover, once 
a mark is registered, the PTO is not authorized to remove
it from the register unless a party moves for cancellation, 
the registration expires, or the Federal Trade Commission 
initiates  proceedings  based  on  certain  grounds.    See  15 
U. S. C. §§1058(a), 1059, 1064; 37 CFR §§2.111(b), 2.160. 

In  light  of  all  this,  it  is  far-fetched  to  suggest  that  the
content of a registered mark is government speech.  If the 
federal  registration  of  a  trademark  makes  the  mark  gov-
ernment  speech,  the  Federal  Government  is  babbling