What’s in a Name: Supreme Court Upholds Constitutionality of Federal Trademark Statute Against Free-Speech Claims in Vidal v. Elster
In recent years, the Supreme Court has taken a keen interest in harmonizing intellectual property and the free speech protections of the First Amendment.[1] In 2023, the Court held that artist Andy Warhol’s unauthorized use of a photograph of Prince to create a silk screen portrait of the artist was not a protected fair use under the Copyright Act.[2] In the copyright context, fair use carves out a line of demarcation between an author’s right to monopolize his creative expressions and free speech by allowing others to engage in non-infringing uses like critiques, commentary, new reporting, teaching, and research.[3] Fair […]
