The Slants, a rock band

The Slants, Portland's Chinatown dance rock band, released their latest CD, The Yellow Album, in November. The band has been fighting to trademark its name since 2009.

(The Oregonian File)

Members of a Portland-based Asian-American band, The Slants, have lost a bid to trademark their name after a federal appeals court ruled Monday that the name is disparaging.

The Slants

Band founder and bassist Tam was inspired for the band's name by a scene in the movie "Kill Bill" that showed an Asian man walking into a bar looking cool and tough. Tam, tired of stereotypes that showed Asians as kung fu masters or geeky geniuses, started recruiting for a rock band.

Tam liked the way "The Slants" sounded -- it reminded him of an '80s new wave band. The name could be a nod to slanted guitar scales or a reference to the slanted perspective he had living as a person of color, he said.

.

The 24-page decision, issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, supports an earlier ruling by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The band's founder and bassist, Simon Tam, says the name isn't a slur but rather reclaims an old stereotype. He's been fighting to own the band name since the patent office first denied his trademark six years ago.

"I'm definitely disappointed, but not completely surprised since we have been fighting this thing for so long," he said Monday evening. "We're going to exhaust every available option to fight this thing."

Tam said he expects the band will pursue having the case heard by the full court of appeals.

The 34-year-old learned of Monday's ruling after returning to Portland from a month spent traveling the country speaking on the issue to a variety of audiences, including legal and Asian American groups.

In his original application to the trademark office, Tam said the band sent 2,000 pages of supporting documentation, including a report from an editor at the Oxford Dictionary and a national survey of Asian Americans, to support the claim.

Local Asian-American community leaders wrote letters of support.

When it was denied, the federal agency held up Section 2(a) of the 1946 Trademark Act. In part, it says a trademark can be rejected if it "consists of or comprises immoral, deceptive, or scandalous matter; or matter which may disparage ..."

Tam is fighing not only to win the right to a band name but also to shine a spotlight on a law that he said needs updating.

"The Patent and Trademark Office has created a composite that finds the name offensive, but we can't find an actual Asian who is offended," he said. "This is so much bigger than just our band -- this law disproportionately affects minorities."

Casey Parks contributed to this report.

-- Laura Gunderson

lgunderson@oregonian.com

503-221-8378

@LGunderson