The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a Californian man's attempt to trademark the phrase "Trump Too Small" for use on t-shirts.
Steve Elster sought to trademark the phrase, which he has been using on $25 t-shirts, but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office initially rejected his application. Elster argued that this rejection violated his First Amendment rights and took his case to the Supreme Court.
On Thursday, June 13, the Supreme Court ruled that Elster's First Amendment rights were not violated. The justices pointed to the established practice of rejecting trademarks that include the names of living individuals without their consent.
The phrase "Trump Too Small" originated from a 2016 presidential campaign exchange between Donald Trump and Marco Rubio. Trump had referred to Rubio as "little Marco," prompting Rubio to retort, "Have you seen his hands? And you know what they say about men with small hands."
Trump responded in a debate, saying, "Look at those hands. Are they small hands? And he referred to my hands, if they're small, something else must be small. I guarantee you there's no problem. I guarantee you."
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