§ 2527 — Suitability for registration

(a) The Secretary of State shall not register a trademark that consists of or comprises immoral, deceptive, or scandalous matter; or matter that may disparage or falsely suggest a connection with persons, living or dead, institutions, beliefs, or national symbols, or bring them into contempt, or disrepute, or consists of or comprises the flag or coat of arms or other insignia of the United States, or of any state or municipality, or of any foreign nation or any simulation thereof.
(b) The Secretary of State shall not register as a trademark the portrait of any living individual, except with the consent of such individual evidenced by an instrument in writing, or a merely geographical name or term, or any trademark that is identical with any trademark theretofore used or registered by any other person that, when applied to the goods of the applicant, is likely to cause confusion or mistake or to deceive purchasers, or that so nearly resembles such trademark as to be likely to cause confusion or mistake in the minds of the public or to deceive purchasers, or any trademark that consists merely in the name of any person, not written, printed, impressed, or woven in a particular or distinctive manner or in association with a portrait of such individual, or that consists merely in words that are descriptive of the merchandise with which they are used or the character or quality of such merchandise. (Amended 1981, No. 217 (Adj. Sess.), § 10.)