By Perry Viscounty, Jennifer Barry, David Troutman and Carl Bacon (January 9, 2018, 6:04 PM EST) -- The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is the gatekeeper for federal trademark registration, empowered by statute (the Lanham Act) to reject attempts to register trademarks that are merely descriptive, deceptively misdescriptive or likely to cause confusion with an already-registered trademark. In addition to these relatively tame bases for rejection, Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act provides that the PTO can also exercise its gatekeeper discretion to reject applications for trademarks that are "immoral" or "scandalous" or that "disparage ... persons, living or dead, institutions, beliefs, or national symbols, or bring them into contempt or disrepute."[1] The interpretation and application of Section 2(a) has produced a long line of cases analyzing a wide array of controversial marks, from a cheeky double entendre for a rooster-shaped lollipop[2] to allegedly disparaging names of bands[3] and professional sports teams.[4]...