美国法院：带有冒犯性字眼的商标也应受到言论

The United States Supreme Court ruled Monday that an Asian-American musical group called “The Slants” has the right to trademark its name.

美国最高法院于周一判决，某个名为“The Slants”亚洲裔音乐团体有权注册其团名为商标，

The word is offensive to many Asians.

虽然该团名称在很多亚洲人听来有冒犯性。

The group’s founder, Simon Tam, tried to trademark the name in 2011.

2011年，该团体创始人西蒙·丹曾试图注册该团名为商标。

But the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office denied the request.

但美国联邦商标局打回了他的请求。

It said the word was a derogatory reference to Asian peoples’ eyes.

联邦商标局表示，“The Slants”这个名字对亚洲人来说是有不敬含义的。

But on Monday, the Supreme Court said a federal law that bans offensive trademarks

但本周一，最高法院宣布，联邦法中禁止含有冒犯性字眼的名字进行注册，

violates free speech rights guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution.

这违反了《宪法第一修正案》中所保障的言论自由权。

Tam was happy about the ruling.

对于该判决，丹表示很开心。

He said: “This journey has always been much bigger than our band—

丹说：“争取注册团名的全过程不仅是为我们乐团而已——

it’s been about the rights of all marginalized communities to determine what’s best for ourselves.”

它关乎所有边缘化社群决定什么最适合自己的权利。”

The ruling could affect other trademark cases.

这项判决可能会影响其他名称注册的案子。

In 2014, the trademark for the Washington Redskins football team was cancelled

2014年，华盛顿红人足球队所注册的名字遭取消，

after Native Americans complained that the word “redskins” was offensive.

因为一些当地的美国人抱怨说，“红人”这个字眼有冒犯性。

A lower court said it would wait to hear an appeal of the decision until the Supreme Court ruled on the musical group’s appeal.

地方法院称，要听取最高法院对该音乐团体的申诉判决结果。

I’m Phil Dierking.

菲尔·迪尔金为您播报。