Since 1946, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has relied on section 2(a) of the Lanham Act to refuse to register marks that consist of “immoral, deceptive, or scandalous matter; or matter which may disparage….”

But a dance-rock band from Oregon stripped the USPTO of its power to block disparaging marks, and a misogynist clothing line from Chatsworth, California (often described as the epicenter of the porn industry), stripped the USPTO of its power to block vulgar marks.