Band Set To Argue Before Supreme Court To Trademark Their 'Offensive' Name

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments over the denial of the trademark to a rock band, The Slants, by the US Patent and Trademark Office after the federal agency ruled the band's name was offensive and disparaging to Asians.

Simon Tam, who leads the all Asian-American group, told Dom Giordano on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT that the government has ignored their appeals explaining the meaning and motivation the name.

"The problem is they just get afraid of what they don't know and what they don't understand. When you talk about the process of reclaiming racial epithets or things that might be stigmatizing, it confuses a lot of people, especially the government.

He expressed his frustration with being caught up in a legal battle with a federal bureaucracy.

"When you have a law that's really subjective, it adds fuel to the fire because then they say, how do we rule on this? That's why you see so much inconsistency all over the map. There are some things that are so offensive that you can't even say it on air that are registered trademarks."

Tam said that he spoke before the group leading the charge challenging his trademark and claims his supporters have far more credibility on the appropriateness of his band's name than do any detractors.

"It's a bar association, a bar association who had me speak at their conference just a few months before they filed their first brief, to overwhelming support by their members. The actual Asian American social justice groups, in this case, have filed in our support. They all signed with the ACLU. That also includes numerous internment camp survivors, actual people from World War II and not speculative ones that they assume would be offended by our name."