Steve Elster had sought the trademark as a nod to a dig by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) during the 2016 Republican presidential primary that mocked the size of Donald Trump’s hands
A California attorney’s quest to trademark the phrase “Trump too small” was quashed by the Supreme Court Thursday, which unanimously ruled the rejection of the man’s brand application did not violate his free speech rights.
Steve Elster had sought the trademark as a nod to a dig by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) during the 2016 Republican presidential primary that mocked the size of Donald Trump’s hands — and implied the real estate mogul came up short in other areas.
“We conclude that a tradition of restricting the trademarking of names has coexisted with the First Amendment, and the names clause fits within that tradition,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the court’s main opinion.
“We see no reason to disturb this longstanding tradition, which supports the restriction of the use of another’s name in a trademark.”
In addition to Thomas, Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, and Sonia Sotomayor filed opinions concurring with the decision, but raising issues with technical elements of their colleague’s rationale.
