TRADEMARKS

TRADEMARKS are words or symbols used on goods to indicate source. Merchants and artisans have used trademarks for centuries; the medieval trademark not only allowed artisans to take credit for their work but also permitted guilds to control quality. English common law (the law of court decisions rather than statutes) protected trademarks beginning in the seventeenth century. The colonists brought this law with them from England. George Washington, in 1772, sought to protect the mark "G. Washington" for use on flour. The purpose of trademark law was to prevent consumer deception as to source. This meant that trademarks were local and goods-specific, as was most trade at the time. A trademark of "Washington's" for flour in Virginia would not extend to "Washington's" on silverware or to "Washington's," even on flour, outside Virginia.

Through the nineteenth century, trade became less local, and a system of federal registration was created in 1870. This system, held unconstitutional in 1879 in a series of Supreme Court decisions collectively known as the Trademark Cases, was replaced in 1881, and then in 1905 with a federal trademark registration statute restricted to marks used in interstate commerce, thus rendering it constitutionally valid. The federal scheme became more important during the twentieth century with the rise of truly national commerce and advertising combined with the judiciary's generous views as to what constitutes interstate commerce. Today, trademark law is increasingly governed by the federal Lanham Act, passed in 1946 and amended in 1988, though state law remains important. Unlike patents and copyrights, trademarks have no fixed duration. Trademarks are more valuable than ever; some, like Coca-Cola, are certainly worth tens of millions of dollars.

TRADEMARKS

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