Trademarks can be offensive according the United States Supreme Court! Yesterday, the highest court in the nation decided the Matal v. Tam case, which asked whether a band with an offensive name had a right to make their name a trademark. The disparagement clause, a law against insulting or offensive language, in the Patent and Trademark Office had led the office to deny the trademark and the case had worked its way all the way up to the top Court. The Court however ruled that First Amendment allowed for the name to be trademarked. Justice Alito gave this reasoning for the ruling;" The disparagement clause violates the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause. Contrary to the Government’s contention, trademarks are private, not government speech...This Court exercises great caution in extending its government-speech precedents, for if private speech could be passed off as government speech by simply affixing a government seal of approval, government could silence or muffle the expression of disfavored viewpoints." Freedom of speech is our best known rights that allows us to express ourselves how we choose but the government isn't granted this right and must watch its language. Now, people who wish to trademark a distinctive sign, design, symbol, or expression for their music group, sports team, company etcetera may do so without the worry of the government dampening their freedom of expression.    

In the "Age of Technology" its sometimes hard to remember that the things that we do virtually can have a real impact on our actual lives. Several would-be Harvard students recently learned this lesson the hard way when their college acceptance offers were rescinded based on offensive posts made on their social media accounts. For many, the idea that a school would refuse admittance based on a meme posted by a potential student may be shocking; but it shouldn't be. After all, when you apply for a job one of the first things that your future employer will do is look you up and that includes Googling you and reviewing your social media accounts. To protect yourself take the advice of Luvvie Ajayi; "You can still show the most colorful, funny side of who you are, without embarrassing your family’s good name. But if you wouldn’t want something you posted to end up on a jumbotron in Times Square, DO NOT POST IT."