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Andrei Iancu, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director, Patent and Trademark Office v. Erik Brunetti

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, No. 2015-1109 · judgment December 15, 2017

Decided · June 24, 2019
Pre-decision estimate: 38% cert probability (95% interval 26%–53%)

Before the decision, about 9.3× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a federal-government petitioner, counsel who has won certiorari before, and a circuit split argued in the petition.

Question presented

Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. 1052(a), provides in pertinent part that a trademark shall be refused registration if it "[c]onsists of or comprises immoral * * * or scandalous matter." The question presented is as follows: Whether Section 1052(a)'s prohibition on the federal registration of "immoral" or "scandalous" marks is facially invalid under the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Noel John Francisco
Jones Day

For respondent
John R. Sommer
John R. Sommer, Attorney-at-Law

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Amicus briefs
10 merits
(3 supporting pet./neither, 7 respondent)

Argument & decision

Argued April 15, 2019 — Malcolm L. Stewart · John R. Sommer. Audio and transcript

Decided June 24, 2019. Opinion by Kagan.

Proceedings

  1. Jul 26 2019
    JUDGMENT ISSUED.
  2. Jun 24 2019
    Adjudged to be AFFIRMED. Kagan, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Thomas, Ginsburg, Alito, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, JJ., joined. Alito, J., filed a concurring opinion. Roberts, C. J., and Breyer, J., filed opinions concurring in part and dissenting in part. Sotomayor, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, in which Breyer, J., joined.
  3. Apr 15 2019
    Argued. For petitioner: Malcolm L. Stewart, Deputy Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. For respondent: John R. Sommer, Irvine, Cal.
  4. Apr 02 2019
    Reply of petitioner Andrei Iancu, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director, United States Patent and Trademark Office filed. (Distributed)
  5. Mar 27 2019
    Record from the U.S.C.A. Federal Circuit is electronic and located on Pacer.
  6. Mar 25 2019
    Brief amici curiae of Professors Barton Beebe and Jeanne Fromer filed. (Distributed)
  7. Mar 25 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of The Rutherford Institute filed. (Distributed)
  8. Mar 25 2019
    Brief amici curiae of American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of the District of Columbia filed. (Distributed)
  9. Mar 25 2019
    Brief amici curiae of The Cato Institute, et. al. filed. (Distributed)
  10. Mar 25 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of International Trademark Association filed. (Distributed)
  11. Mar 22 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of Simon Tam filed. (Distributed)
  12. Mar 21 2019
    Record requested from the U.S.C.A. Federal Circuit.
  13. Mar 21 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of Pacific Legal Foundation filed. (Distributed)
  14. Mar 20 2019
    CIRCULATED
  15. Mar 18 2019
    Brief of respondent Erik Brunetti filed.
  16. Feb 26 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of New York Intellectual Property Law Association in support of neither party filed.
  17. Feb 25 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of The American Intellectual Property Law Association in support of neither party filed.
  18. Feb 19 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of Kurt M. Anderson filed.
  19. Feb 19 2019
    Consents for amicus brief of Kurt M. Anderson not accepted for filing. (March 04, 2019 -- Document not of the type that is to be filed electronically)
  20. Feb 15 2019
    Joint appendix filed.
  21. Feb 15 2019
    Brief of petitioner Andrei Iancu, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director, United States Patent and Trademark Office filed.
  22. Feb 11 2019
    SET FOR ARGUMENT on Monday, April 15, 2019
  23. Jan 04 2019
    Petition GRANTED.
  24. Dec 11 2018
    Reply of petitioners Andrei Iancu, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director, United States Patent and Trademark Office filed. (Distributed)
  25. Nov 28 2018
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/4/2019.
  26. Nov 08 2018
    Brief of respondent Erik Brunetti filed.
  27. Oct 02 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including November 8, 2018.
  28. Sep 28 2018
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from October 9, 2018 to November 8, 2018, submitted to The Clerk.
  29. Sep 07 2018
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due October 9, 2018)
  30. Aug 01 2018
    Application (18A15) granted by The Chief Justice extending the time to file until September 7, 2018.
  31. Jul 31 2018
    Application (18A15) to extend further the time from August 10, 2018 to September 7, 2018, submitted to The Chief Justice.
    Written RequestProof of Service
  32. Jul 05 2018
    Application (18A15) granted by The Chief Justice extending the time to file until August 10, 2018.
  33. Jun 29 2018
    Application (18A15) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from July 11, 2018 to August 10, 2018, submitted to The Chief Justice.
    Main DocumentLower Court Orders/OpinionsProof of Service