Popular name for the Federal Trade-Mark Act of 1946 that became effective in 1947, properly called the Lanham Trade-Mark Act. The Lanham Act governs the registration of trademarks, trade names, and other identifying marks used in interstate commerce and protects registered trademarks from interference or infringement.
Trademark Act of 1946 popularly Lanham Act
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Popular name for the Federal Trade-Mark Act of 1946, which became effective in 1947; properly called the Lanham Trade-Mark Act. The Lanham Act governs the registration of Trademarks, trade names, and other identifying marks used in interstate commerce and protects registered trademarks from interference or infringement.
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This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.
A federal statute enacted in 1946 and subsequently amended to revise trademark law.
The Lanham Act of 1946, also known as the Trademark Act (15 U.S.C.A. § 1051 et seq., ch. 540, 60 Stat. 427 [1988 & Supp. V 1993]), is a federal statute that regulates the use of trademarks in commercial activity. Trademarks are distinctive pictures, words, and other symbols or devices used by businesses to identify their goods and services. The Lanham Act gives trademark users exclusive rights to their marks, thereby protecting the time and money invested in those marks. The act also serves to reduce consumer confusion in the identification of goods and services.
The Lanham Act was not the first federal legislation on trademarks, but it was the first comprehensive federal legislation. Before the Lanham Act, most of trademark law was regulated by a variety of state laws.
The first federal trademark legislation was passed by Congress in 1870 and amended in 1876. In 1879 the U.S. Supreme Court found that legislation unconstitutional. Two subsequent attempts at federal trademark legislation provided little protection for the rights of trademark users. The movement for stronger trademark legislation began in the 1920s, and was championed in the 1930s by Representative Fritz Lanham, of Texas. In 1946 Congress passed the Trademark Act of 1946 and named it the Lanham Act after its chief proponent. Lanham stated in 1946 that the act was designed "to protect legitimate business and the consumers of the country."
The Lanham Act protected trademarks used in commerce and registered with the Patent and Trademark Office, in Washington, D.C. It expanded the types of trademarks that deserved legal protection, created legal procedures to help trademark holders enforce their rights, and established an assortment of rights that attached to qualified trademarks.
Congress has amended the act several times since 1946. The most sweeping changes came in 1988. Those changes included an amendment that authorized the protection of trademarks that had not been used in commerce but were created with the intent that they be used in commerce.
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The Lanham (Trademark) Act (title 15, chapter 22 of the United States Code) is a piece of legislation that contains the federal statutes of trademark law in the United States. The Act prohibits a number of activities, including trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and false advertising.
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History
Named for Representative Fritz G. Lanham of Texas, the Act was passed on July 5, 1946 and signed into law by President Harry Truman, taking effect "one year from its enactment", on July 5, 1947. Act July 5, 1946, ch 540, § 46, 60 Stat. 444. In rare circumstances, a conflict will arise between trademarks that have been in use since before the Lanham Act went into effect, thus requiring the courts to examine the dispute according to the trademark act that existed prior to the Lanham Act.
Divisions
The Lanham Act is divided into the following four subchapters:
- Subchapter I - The Principal Register - §§ 1051-1072 (Sections 1 to 22)
- Subchapter II - The Supplemental Register - §§ 1091-1096 (Sections 23 to 28)
- Subchapter III - General Provisions - §§ 1111-1129 (Sections 29 to 45) [note: §§ 1128 & 1129 have no corresponding Lanham Act number]
- Subchapter IV - The Madrid Protocol - §§ 1141-1141n (not part of the original Lanham Act)
Note that there are gaps between the United States Code sections, to accommodate the insertion of new statutes into the Code. Two such additions have been made to Subchapter three, with the later creation of the National Intellectual Property Law Enforcement Coordination Council codified at 15 U.S.C. § 1128, and the passage of prohibitions against cyberpiracy codified at 15 U.S.C. § 1129.
Subchapters I and II
The provisions of Subchapter I set forth the right of trademark owners to attain a federal registration of their marks. Subchapter I sets forth the requirements that a mark must meet to receive a registration on the Principal Register, which bestows various rights on the trademark owner to prevent others from infringing their mark. Among the requirements are prohibitions against the registration of marks that are confusingly similar to existing marks, are generic or merely descriptive, are scandalous or immoral, or fall onto certain other prohibited categories. Subchapter I also sets forth certain procedural requirements, such as the submission of an affidavit of continued use after five years of registration.
Subchapter II sets forth a form of registration on the Supplemental Register, for certain marks that are unregistrable under Subchapter I, but may become registrable in the future, such as those that are merely descriptive. This form of registration, while not granting all the protections of registration on the Principal Register, does provide notice to potential infringers that the mark is in use, and also provides some procedural benefits.
Subchapter III
The provisions of Subchapter III are the heart of the Lanham Act, with Sections 42 and 43 of the Lanham Act setting forth the remedies that can be sought when a trademark is infringed. These provisions can be used to restrict the importation of goods that infringe or counterfeit registered trademarks, through the use of injunctions and damages.
Section 43(a) (codified at 15 USC 1125(a)) is the "likelihood of confusion" standard for infringement of an unregistered trademark or trade dress. Courts still frequently refer to this as "Section 43(a)".
Section 43(a)(1)(B) is also often utilized in law when false or misleading statements are alleged to have hurt a business. To be proven in court a claimant must satisfy 3 principles: There was a false or misleading statement made, the statement was used in commercial advertising or promotion, and the statement creates a likelihood of harm to the plaintiff.
Further reading
- Lemley, Mark A. (1999). "The Modern Lanham Act and the Death of Common Sense". Yale Law Journal 108 (7): 1687–1715. doi:.
- Phelps, D. M. (1949). "Certification Marks under the Lanham Act". Journal of Marketing 13 (4): 498–505. doi:.
External links
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