The United States justified its original attempt at establishing federal

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...

s by pointing to the

Copyright Clause The Copyright Clause (also known as the Intellectual Property Clause, Copyright and Patent Clause, or the Progress Clause) describes an enumerated power listed in the United States Constitution ( Article I, Section 8, Clause 8). The clause, wh ...

in the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

. The Trade Mark Act of 1870 (within the

Copyright Act of 1870 The Copyright Act of 1870, also called the Patent Act of 1870 and the Trade Mark Act of 1870, was a revision to United States intellectual property law, covering copyrights and patents. Eight sections of the bill, sometimes called the Trade Mar ...

) and the Trade Mark Act of 1876 were tested in a series of

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

cases, called the ''

Trade-Mark Cases The ''Trade-Mark Cases'', 100 U.S. 82 (1879), were a set of three cases consolidated into a single appeal before the United States Supreme Court, which in 1879 unanimously ruled that the Copyright Clause of the Constitution gave Congress no power ...

'', 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 Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct excha ...

, instead, justified its authority under the Commerce Clause.

References

{{US-law-stub United States federal trademark legislation

Further reading

References