Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/22-704_4246.pdf
Page Number: 5.0

Cite as:  602 U. S. ____ (2024) 

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the 
United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to  notify  the  Reporter  of 
Decisions,  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  Washington,  D. C.  20543, 
pio@supremecourt.gov, of any typographical or other formal errors. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

_________________ 

No. 22–704 
_________________ 

KATHERINE K. VIDAL, UNDER SECRETARY OF 
COMMERCE FOR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY 
AND DIRECTOR, UNITED STATES PATENT 
AND TRADEMARK OFFICE, PETITIONER 
v. STEVE ELSTER 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF 
APPEALS FOR THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT 

[June 13, 2024] 

JUSTICE THOMAS  announced  the  judgment  of  the  Court
and delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts
I,  II,  and  IV,  and  an  opinion  with  respect  to  Part  III,  in 
which JUSTICE ALITO and JUSTICE GORSUCH join.* 

Steve Elster sought to register the trademark “Trump too
small.”  But,  the  Patent  and  Trademark  Office  (PTO)  re-
fused to register the mark because the Lanham Act prohib-
its  registration  of  a  trademark  that  “[c]onsists  of  or  com-
prises a name . . . identifying a particular living individual 
except  by  his  written  consent.”    60  Stat.  428,  15  U. S. C. 
§1052(c).  Elster contends that this prohibition violates his
First Amendment right to free speech.  We hold that it does 
not. 

I 
A trademark is “a symbol or a device to distinguish the
goods or property made or sold by the person whose mark it 
is, to the exclusion of use by all other persons.”  Trade-Mark 
—————— 

*JUSTICE BARRETT joins Parts I, II–A, and II–B of this opinion.