trademark
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 240 U.S. 403 - Hanover Star Milling Co. v. Metcalf · 1916Most cited · 1,666 citing opinions
The redress that is accorded in trademark cases is based upon the party's right to be protected in the good will of a trade or business. The primary and proper function of a trademark is to identify the origin or ownership of the article to which it is affixed. The essence of the wrong consists in the sale of the goods of one manufacturer or vendor for those of another.
How the Supreme Court has restated “trademark”
Each Supreme Court definition of “trademark,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “trademark”
Court decisions citing the 4 opinions that defined “trademark” — 3,021 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 5 definitions, chronological · 1911–1916
- 1911·220 U.S. 446 - Standard Paint Company v. Trinidad Asphalt Manufacturing Company[p4]· cited 441×ORIGINAL
no one can appropriate as a trademark a generic name or one descriptive of an article of trade, its qualities, ingredients, or characteristics, or any sign, word, or symbol which, from the nature of the fact it is used to signify, others may employ with equal truth.
generic/descriptive
As defined in § 29, 'the term 'trademark' includes any mark which is entitled to registration under the terms of this act.' ... The applicant who, by virtue of actual and exclusive use, is entitled to register his mark under this clause, becomes on due registration the 'owner' of a 'trademark' within the meaning of the act, and he is entitled to be protected in its use as such.
statutory definition
In the case, therefore, of marks consisting of names or terms having a double significance, and being susceptible of legitimate uses with respect to their primary sense, the reproduction, copy, or imitation which constitutes infringement must be such as is calculated to mislead the public with respect to the origin or ownership of the goods, and thus to invade the right of the registrant to the use of the name or term as a designation of his merchandise.
surname / secondary meaning
The right to use a trademark is recognized as a kind of property, of which the owner is entitled to the exclusive enjoyment to the extent that it has been actually used. The infringer is required in equity to account for and yield up his gains to the true owner, upon a principle analogous to that which charges a trustee with the profits acquired by wrongful use of the property of the cestui que trust.