On December 22, 2015, an en banc panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act (“Section 2(a)”), which states that a U.S. trademark may be refused registration on the principal register if it “consists of or comprises immoral, deceptive, or scandalous matter; or matter which may disparage…,” is unconstitutional under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. This decision provided a significant development in the ongoing debate about the role of Section 2(a) in U.S. trademark law.