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Forbes
Forbes
5 Jun 2023


The Supreme Court will consider whether trademarks can be granted that criticize public officials by name despite a federal law that says otherwise, the court announced Monday, as it took up a case challenging the government’s decision to reject a t-shirt trademark that mocks former President Donald Trump.

Visits Scotland

Former President Donald Trump at Aberdeen Airport on May 1 in Aberdeen, Scotland.

Getty Images

Vidal v. Elster concerns Steve Elster’s attempt to trademark the phrase “Trump Too Small” for use on a t-shirt that criticizes Trump’s political agenda, saying on the back of the shirt that “Trump’s package is too small” on a variety of political issues like the environment, civil rights and “affordable health care for all.”

The phrase references a comment Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) made during a presidential debate in 2016 in which he joked about the size of Trump’s hands and added, “And you know what they say about guys with small hands.”

The trademark was rejected for going against the Lanham Act, which prohibits trademarking anything that “consists of or comprises a name, portrait, or signature identifying a particular living individual except by his written consent,” or anything involving a deceased president without their widow’s consent as long as they’re alive.

Elster argued that rejecting the trademark violated his First Amendment rights to free speech because it was criticizing a public official, and an appeals court agreed, finding the government’s rejection unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court did not comment on its decision to take up the case, which asks the court to rule on whether the refusal to register trademarks involving living people or government officials violates the First Amendment “when the mark contains criticism of a government official or public figure.”

This story is breaking and will be updated.