U.S. intellectual property laws ruled unconstitutional
The United States justified its original attempt at establishing federal trademarks by pointing to the Copyright Clause in the Constitution. The Trade Mark Act of 1870 (within the Copyright Act of 1870) and the Trade Mark Act of 1876 were tested in a series of United States Supreme Court cases, called the Trade-Mark Cases, and ruled unconstitutional because that clause did not cover trademarks.
Before being ruled unconstitutional, they were the subjects of other Supreme Court cases: Delaware & Hudson Canal Co. v. Clark, Amoskeag Manufacturing Co. v. D. Trainer & Sons, and McLean v. Fleming.
The Trade Mark Act of 1881, instead, justified its authority under the Commerce Clause.
Further reading
References
- Trade-Mark Cases, 100 U.S. 82 (1879).
  | This article relating to law in the United States or its constituent jurisdictions is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it. |