Assholes are scandalous, says PTO

A trademark applicant tried to register a mark for Asshole's Guide to... (think: [topic here] For Dummies), and the Trademark Office rejected it as "scandalous", so they appealed. The Appeals board agreed that it was scandalous too, based on an old doctrine in trademark law that trademarks can't be scandalous (i.e., can't trademark American flags on condoms, and so on). But in the "oh-sweet-irony" department: Wal*Mart sells one of the books in the Assholes series. Link (Thanks, Jason!)

Xeni Jardin

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