What Next for Trademark Jurisprudence at the Supreme Court? Experts Have Their Say

On June 27, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced that he will step down, effective at the end of July 2018. This will fully transform the Court, since President Donald Trump will now have the opportunity to nominate another new justice to the bench—the second since his term started.

President Trump is expected to replace Justice Kennedy, who was long considered the swing vote in many important decisions, with a "young, conservative jurist." This could have implications for many cases to come, particularly, according to some intellectual property (IP) attorneys, related to broadening the ability to enforce trademark laws. However, other IP professionals like Holland & Knight Partner Paul Kilmer disagree with that sentiment, considering most of the justices are not known to have any bias towards trademark matters.

Mr. Kilmer shared his doubts that a new right-wing Supreme Court Justice will have an impact on trademark jurisprudence, commenting to World Trademark Review that “trademark law seems to be neither liberal nor conservative."

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