No. 18-302 IN THE Supreme Court of the United States ANDREI IANCU, UNDER SECRETARY OF COMMERCE FOR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND DIRECTOR, UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE, Petitioner, v. ERIK BRUNETTI, Respondent. On Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit BRIEF FOR PROFESSORS BARTON BEEBE AND JEANNE FROMER AS AMICI CURIAE SUPPORTING RESPONDENT JOSHUA J. BONE WILLIAM M. JAY GOODWIN PROCTER LLP Counsel of Record 100 Northern Ave. GOODWIN PROCTER LLP Boston, MA 02210 901 New York Ave., N.W. Washington, DC 20001
[email protected] (202) 346-4000 March 25, 2019 i TABLE OF CONTENTS INTEREST OF THE AMICI CURIAE ....................... 1 INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT .................................................... 1 ARGUMENT ............................................................... 3 I. THE PTO’S ENFORCEMENT OF § 1052(a)’S IMMORAL-OR- SCANDALOUS-MARKS PROVISION IS SYSTEMATICALLY INCONSISTENT AND ARBITRARY. ......................................... 3 A. Study Design. .............................. 3 B. The PTO Routinely Refuses Registration on the Basis That the Asserted Mark Both Contravenes § 1052(a)’s Immoral-or- Scandalous-Marks Provision and § 1052(d)’s Prohibition on Registration of a Mark That Is Confusingly Similar to an Already-Registered Mark. .......... 7 C. The PTO Is Inconsistent and Arbitrary in Allowing Certain Applications to Overcome a § 1052(a) Immoral-or-Scandalous Refusal. ..................................... 17 ii D. The PTO Often Treats Identical or Highly Similar Marks on Identical or Highly Similar Goods Differently, Approving Some for Publication and Refusing Others as Immoral or Scandalous. ........... 22 E. In Its Immoral-or- Scandalous Refusals, the PTO Has Discriminated Between Registrable and Unregistrable Marks Based on Those Marks’ Viewpoint. ..... 28 II. THIS SYSTEMATIC INCONSISTENCY AND ARBITRARINESS OF PTO ENFORCEMENT OF THE IMMORAL-OR-SCANDALOUS- MARKS PROVISION SUGGEST THAT THE PROVISION VIOLATES THE FIRST AMENDMENT’S FREE SPEECH CLAUSE.