In the 2017 case, Matal v. Tam, the court ruled that an Asian-American dance-rock band called the Slants was entitled to federal trademark registration. “It leads to retention of the word.”Justice Neil M. Gorsuch seemed sympathetic to that approach, though for a different reason. “A composite of, say, 20-year-olds,” she said, would not find the term particularly shocking. “Suppose in the niche market that these goods are targeting, the name is mainstream,” she said. “These goods, as I understand it, are meant to attract a particular market, and if we concentrate on that market, from their perception, the word is mainstream.”

Source: New York Times April 15, 2019 17:48 UTC