Lanham Act in 2019
Lanham Act is an old body of federal law you should familiarize yourself with. It governs the registration of trademarks and service marks. Generally speaking, there are many different components of this piece of legal infrastructure. Pieces which tend to deviate, depending on the context it’s applied to. In the context of registration purposes, the premise would be infringement or litigation concerns.
The History
The Lanham Act came into law back in 1947 by President Truman. And since then, there have been other acts that are somewhat interrelated to the Lanham Act. One of these acts being the “Anti-Cybersquatting Act”, for example. Also, a lot of different acts have been out there or enacted by Congress. These acts have a relationship to the Lanham Act. And are often enforced along with similar claims.
Key Cases
There are a few high profile cases that have recently involved this federal law. One of my favorites is the Paris Hilton versus Hallmark case. In this case, Paris Hilton sued Hallmark for use of the term “that’s hot”. The only thing more shocking than the case subject matter is that she actually won. The second recent case involved other celebrities. Who sued on because of the relationship between generalized terms and their losses. Also, there are also some high profile cases involving Apple and HTC on the use of iPhone or iCase.
Be sure to approach a good attorney if you have more questions about this and how it applies to your business.
