Opinion | The Business That Dare Not Speak Its Name

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Opinion: The Supreme Court discreetly ponders a brand name that hints at an obscenity, writes Hadley Arkes

A New York lawyer pointed out to me 40 years ago the long-settled understanding that one may not use an obscenity or profanity in the title of a company. The Supreme Court addressed that point last week in a case called Iancu v. Brunetti.

Erik Brunetti sought a trademark for a brand of streetwear he would call by the acronym for “Friends U Can’t Trust”—close enough to the F-word that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office refused to register it. The usual cries came up—that the standards of judgment are incurably subjective, that if the law started making judgments of this kind, the government would have a license for censoring...

 

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Common decency is a value worth pursing. I support the Supreme Courts position on containing the use of profanity in a public brand name.

I had one of their hats back in the day. My favorite hat ever.

America... where you can’t say FUCT... but you can buy automatic weapons from the supermarket.

Far understated cunning trick

F.U.C.T. stands for 'Friends U Can't Trust' savedyouaclick

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