"The Secretary Of State Has No Issue With Bimbo" - Should She?

A dozen years ago, I posed the question of whether it might be possible to incorporate under a crass, indecent or otherwise offensive name.   That post mentioned the Court of Appeal's holding in Lee v. Superior Court, 9 Cal. App. 4th 510 (1992). In...

Can Your Corporation's Or LLC's Name Be An Emoji?

The word "emoji" is the romanization of two Japanese words (絵 and 文字) that together mean picture character.   Emojis essentially marry an ancient form of writing, pictography, to a modern technology, smart phones.  

Incorporating Under A Disparaging Name

In Matal v. Tam, 2017 U.S. LEXIS 3872 (June 19, 2017), the U.S. Supreme Court found the "disparagement clause" of the Lanham Act violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment. The "disparagement clause" prohibits the registration of...

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