Explore the Fascinating Trademark Case of The Slants with Front Man Simon Tam, Sept. 20
August 27, 2019
Contact: Office of Government and Public Affairs
Phone: 410.837.5739
On Friday, Sept. 20, the University of Baltimore School of Law and Womble Bond Dickinson LLP will present an evening of discussion and acoustic music with Simon Tam, front man of The Slants, an Asian-American dance-rock band founded to challenge racial stereotypes and named to defang a derogatory epithet. Ironically, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office refused to trademark the band's name, declaring it a disparaging term for people of Asian-American descent. The resulting lawsuit went all the way to the Supreme Court, which Tam and the band won in a unanimous free-speech decision.
"Slanted Justice: Free Speech and Trademark Law at the Supreme Court" will begin at 5 p.m. on the 12th floor of the John and Frances Angelos Law Center, home of the UB School of Law, 1401 N. Charles St. The event is free and open to the public. An online R.S.V.P. is requested; detail are listed below. Tam will perform live, recount his experiences and discuss the complex interplay between discrimination and free speech.
Tam, a musician, social-justice advocate and music-business commentator, formed The Slants in 2006, noting that the name was "a way of seizing control of a racial slur, turning it on its head and draining its venom." At his attorney's recommendation, he filed an application to register the band's trademark with the USPTO. But the agency ruled that the name was disparaging to persons of Asian descent. Despite Tam's gathering of evidence to the contrary, including support from the Asian American community, the USPTO stood its ground. Tam filed a lawsuit, which he initially lost in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, but won in 2015. Two years later, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in his favor in Matal v. Tam.
Tam continues to perform and advocate, and he is a frequent commentator on issues related to artistic freedom. The Slants remain active, and this year Tam published his memoir, Slanted: How an Asian American Troublemaker Took on the Supreme Court.
To R.S.V.P. for this event, go here.
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