The government has a literal 'secret menu' they use to mess with legal businesses they just don't happen to like.
March 27, 2026
Original Paper
Discrimination in the Trademark ID Manual
SSRN · 6466618
The Takeaway
By deliberately excluding items like 'cannabis' or 'sexual health' from the standard Trademark ID Manual selection list, the USPTO creates 'procedural friction.' This forces these businesses into expensive, manual legal reviews that their 'socially favored' competitors bypass, effectively creating a secret tax on 'vice' commerce without any new laws being passed.
From the abstract
Using evidence drawn from the USPTO's treatment of 221 identifications submitted for inclusion in the Trademark ID Manual (including 43 I submitted on my own and as part of a team), this Article, the first ever written on the ID Manual, argues that the USPTO's administration of the Manual systematically disadvantages trademark applicants offering lawful but socially disfavored goods or services, such as those relating to cannabis, sexual health, or "vice." <br><br>By deliberately refusing to inc