At Least You Can Still Call Your Organization What You Want... Within Reason

Some ninny took a patent case up to the Supreme Court where today the Nine handed down their decision. At issue was what whether an organization could name itself as it wished, or whether self-appointed morality police groups could take away that freedom.

In short, Dykes on Bikes won its case today, and can keep their name.

The challenger, who is in my opinion a self-important ninny, is an attorney from the East Bay who alleged that the Patent Office erred in granting the trademark. According to him, the Patent Office should only issue trademarks to groups with names that are not "scandalous and immoral". (Somehow, he also felt that the name of the group demeaned men... that one I just don't get and neither did the Court of Appeal.)

After failing to convince the district court in D.C., the plaintiff appealed to the D.C. Circuit where they upheld the Patent Office determination. Today, the Supreme Court refused to hear the case, denying cert.