Posted on 10/20/2013 1:22:10 PM PDT by Theoria
The Slants, a six-member band from Portland, Ore., calls their sound "Chinatown Dance Rock" — a little bit New Order, a little bit Depeche Mode. They describe themselves as one of the first Asian-American rock bands. Their music caters to an Asian-American crowd, they've spoken at various Asian-American events, and they're proud of all of it.
But the Slants have been duking it out with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) over the past four years because of their name. The PTO refused the band's two trademark applications, saying that "slants" is a disparaging term for people of Asian descent. Now the band plans to take their case to a federal circuit court.
"They said because of our ethnicity, people automatically think of the racial slur as opposed to any other definition of the term," Simon Tam, founder and bassist of The Slants, told me. "In other words, if I was white, this wouldn't be an issue at all," Tam, who goes by "Simon Young" onstage, is of Taiwanese and Chinese descent. (The entire Slants crew is Asian-American.)
(We reached out to the lawyer at the patent office; a spokesperson for the trademark office said he couldn't comment on pending cases.)
(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...
If this is in any way illegal, I want every damn rapper who says the N-word jailed for hate crimes.
They ARE Asians!
They can be “The Band Formerly Known As The Slants.”
Paging Bob Costas!
My guess is they’ll win their case, and get a ton of publicity they couldn’t pay for. If the Patent Office had just issued it we might never have heard of them.
Land of the free, and a most excellent marketing gimmick. That's what it's all about, isn't it? Wonder what the modern Patent Office would make of such band names as "Black Sabbath" or "Blind Faith"? I say, rock on, Slants!!!
Sure they can. The PTO knows this term is offensive to them, they are just not smart enough to understand that.
Kind of like the native amaerican tribes that think they are not offended by "Redskins", but Bob Costas and Obama know better.
The Slants, a six-member band from Portland, Ore., calls their sound "Chinatown Dance Rock" -- a little bit New Order, a little bit Depeche Mode. They describe themselves as one of the first Asian-American rock bands.They really missed the boat -- they should call themselves "The Slant Six".
The article is by Kat Chow?!? LOLOL!
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