Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/16pdf/15-1293_1o13.pdf
Page Number: 5

Cite as:  582 U. S. ____ (2017) 

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the
preliminary  print  of  the  United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to
notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash-
ington,  D. C.  20543,  of  any  typographical  or  other  formal  errors,  in  order
that corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

_________________ 

No. 15–1293 
_________________ 

JOSEPH MATAL, INTERIM DIRECTOR, UNITED 

STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE, 

PETITIONER v. SIMON SHIAO TAM 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF 

APPEALS FOR THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT
 

[June 19, 2017]

 JUSTICE  ALITO  announced  the  judgment  of  the  Court 
and  delivered  the  opinion  of  the  Court  with  respect  to
Parts I, II, and III–A, and an opinion with respect to Parts 
III–B,  III–C,  and  IV,  in  which  THE  CHIEF  JUSTICE, 
JUSTICE THOMAS, and JUSTICE BREYER join. 

This  case  concerns  a  dance-rock  band’s  application  for 
federal  trademark  registration  of  the  band’s  name,  “The
Slants.”  “Slants” is a derogatory term for persons of Asian
descent,  and  members  of  the  band  are  Asian-Americans. 
But the band members believe that by taking that slur as
the  name  of  their  group,  they  will  help  to  “reclaim”  the
term and drain its denigrating force.

The  Patent  and  Trademark  Office  (PTO)  denied  the 
application based on a provision of federal law prohibiting 
the registration of trademarks that may “disparage . . . or
bring . . . into contemp[t] or disrepute” any “persons, living 
or  dead.”  15  U. S. C.  §1052(a).    We  now  hold  that  this 
provision  violates  the  Free  Speech  Clause  of  the  First 
Amendment.  It offends a bedrock First Amendment prin-
ciple:  Speech  may  not  be  banned  on  the  ground  that  it