Early American Federal Trademark Law and the Law of Nations

Abstract

From 1869 to 1879, many European nations rushed to conclude bilateral treaties for trademark protection with the United States, either with the expectation of a federal law or under the first federal trademark law passed in 1870. However, in 1879 the US Supreme Court held the 1870 Act unconstitutional, throwing that system into disarray. This piece will explore these early trademark treaties, situate them in the context of developments in the law and society during this period, and explore how the Supreme Court's 1879 decision in the Trade-Mark Cases affected the course of international trademark law. This piece adapts the author's earlier scholarship on this era of U.S. trademark law to greater engage the transatlantic development of trademark law.

Keywords: trademarks, intellectual property, international law, legal history