ABSTRACT
The Supreme Court decision in Matal v Tam sparked global controversy by striking down the proscriptions against registering racist slurs as trademarks. This Article investigates the impact of the case in two ways. First, by using scholarship from the social sciences, this Article examines the limits to the argument that racial slur-appropriation is a vital form of minority self-empowerment. Drawing from this literature, this Article claims that ‘self’ appropriation of a racial slur is critically distinct from the appropriation of a slur by an ‘other’ group, and that removal of the disparagement bar has resulted in negative consequences particularly for Native Americans. Second, this Article analyzes the US trademark register to examine the empirical impact of the Tam decision … (more)
Vicki Huanga, ‘Trademarks, Race, and Slur-Appropriation An Interdisciplinary and Empirical Study’, 2021 University of Illinois Law Review 1605 (October 25, 2021).
First posted 2021-10-27 16:00:05
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