Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Katherine K. Vidal, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director, United States Patent and Trademark Office v. Steve Elster
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, No. 2020-2205 · judgment February 24, 2022
Decided · June 13, 2024
Pre-decision estimate: 34% cert probability (95% interval 23%–47%)
Before the decision, about 8.2× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a federal-government petitioner, counsel who has won certiorari before, and a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition).
Question presented
Section 1052(c) of Title 15 provides in pertinent part that a trademark shall be refused registration if it "[c]onsists of or comprises a name * * * identifying a particular living individual except by his written consent." 15 U.S.C. 1052(c). The question presented is as follows: Whether the refusal to register a mark under Section 1052(c) violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment when the mark contains criticism of a government official or public figure.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Elizabeth B. Prelogar
Solicitor General
For respondent
Jonathan Ellis Taylor
Gupta Wessler PLLC
Case
Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences
Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage · 7 merits
(5 supporting pet./neither, 2 respondent)
Argument & decision
Argued November 1, 2023 — Malcolm L. Stewart · Jonathan E. Taylor. Audio and transcript
Decided June 13, 2024. Opinion by Thomas.
Proceedings
- Jul 15 2024Judgment Issued.
- Jun 13 2024Judgment REVERSED. Thomas, J., announced the judgment of the Court and delivered the opinion of the Court, except as to Part III. Alito and Gorsuch, JJ., joined that opinion in full; Roberts, C. J., and Kavanaugh, J., joined all but Part III; and Barrett, J., joined Parts I, II–A, and II–B. Kavanaugh, J., filed an opinion concurring in part, in which Roberts, C. J., joined. Barrett, J., filed an opinion concurring in part, in which Kagan, J., joined, in which Sotomayor, J., joined as to Parts I, II, and III–B, and in which Jackson, J., joined as to Parts I and II. Sotomayor, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, in which Kagan and Jackson, JJ., joined.
- Nov 01 2023Argued. For petitioner: Malcolm L. Stewart, Deputy Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. For respondent: Jonathan E. Taylor, Washington, D. C.
- Oct 05 2023Reply of petitioner Katherine K. Vidal, Under Secretary of Commerce Intellectual Property and Director, United States Patent and Trademark Office filed. (Distributed)
- Sep 20 2023Record received from the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The record is electronic and available on PACER.
- Sep 18 2023CIRCULATED
- Sep 12 2023Brief amici curiae of Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and Manhattan Institute filed.
- Sep 06 2023SET FOR ARGUMENT on Wednesday, November 1, 2023.
- Sep 06 2023Record requested from the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
- Sep 05 2023Brief of respondent Steve Elster filed.
- Sep 05 2023Brief amicus curiae of Samuel F. Ernst filed.
- Aug 21 2023Motion to dispense with printing the joint appendix filed by petitioner GRANTED.
- Aug 15 2023Motion of respondent for a further extension of time to file respondent's brief on the merits is granted and the time is extended to and including September 5, 2023.
- Aug 14 2023Motion of respondent for a further extension of time filed.
- Aug 01 2023Brief amicus curiae of Motion Picture Association, Inc. in support of neither party filed.
- Aug 01 2023Brief amicus curiae of Matthew A. Handal in support of neither party filed.
- Aug 01 2023Brief amicus curiae of The International Trademark Association filed.
- Aug 01 2023Brief amicus curiae of American Intellectual Property Law Association in support of neither party filed.
- Aug 01 2023Brief amicus curiae of Public Citizen filed.
- Jul 25 2023Brief of petitioner Katherine K. Vidal, Under Secretary of Commerce Intellectual Property and Director, United States Patent and Trademark Office filed.
- Jul 12 2023Motion to dispense with printing the joint appendix filed by petitioner Katherine K. Vidal, Under Secretary of Commerce Intellectual Property and Director, United States Patent and Trademark Office.
- Jul 10 2023Motion to extend the time to file the joint appendix and petitioner's brief on the merits is extended to and including July 25, 2023. The time to file respondent's brief on the merits is extended to and including August 29, 2023.
- Jun 22 2023Motion for an extension of time to file the briefs on the merits filed.
- Jun 05 2023Petition GRANTED.
- May 30 2023DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/1/2023.
- May 09 2023DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/25/2023.
- May 09 2023Reply of petitioner Katherine K. Vidal, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director, United States Patent and Trademark Office filed. (Distributed)
- Apr 25 2023Brief of respondent Steve Elster in opposition filed.
- Apr 07 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including April 25, 2023.
- Apr 06 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response from April 11, 2023 to April 25, 2023, submitted to The Clerk.
- Mar 27 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including April 11, 2023.
- Mar 24 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response from March 29, 2023 to April 11, 2023, submitted to The Clerk.
- Feb 21 2023Brief amicus curiae of Matthew A. Handal filed.
- Feb 16 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including March 29, 2023.
- Feb 15 2023Motion to extend the time to file a response from February 27, 2023 to March 29, 2023, submitted to The Clerk.
- Jan 27 2023Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due February 27, 2023)
- Dec 20 2022Application (22A442) granted by The Chief Justice extending the time to file until January 27, 2023.
- Dec 19 2022Application (22A442) to extend further the time from December 29, 2022 to January 27, 2023, submitted to The Chief Justice.
- Nov 18 2022Application (22A442) granted by The Chief Justice extending the time to file until December 29, 2022.
- Nov 17 2022Application (22A442) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from November 29, 2022 to December 29, 2022, submitted to The Chief Justice.