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Intellectual Property

This guide is intended to provide those researching issues in Intellectual Property Law with a starting point for their studies.

About This Guide

This Research Guide is intended to provide those researching issues in Intellectual Property Law with a starting point for their studies.  Intellectual Property is a broad area in the law, comprising the three distinct but interconnected doctrinal areas of Copyright, Patent, and Trademarks.  In addition, this Guide includes resources pertaining to a fourth type of intellectual property: trade secrets.

This Research Guide is organized into five sections, with one section providing resources on the overarching area of intellectual property, and the remaining sections each corresponding to one of the foregoing specific doctrinal areas.  Each tab in the navigation bar above will take the researcher to a variety of materials - both print and online - that should assist them in their study of and research into Intellectual Property Law and its component parts.

Trademark Law

Trademark Law is one of the three primary doctrinal areas within Intellectual Property.  Unlike Copyright or Patent Law, however, the power to enact legislation protect trademarks is granted to Congress under the Commerce Clause (Article 1 § 8, clause 3) of the Constitution, rather than the so-called "Copyright and Patent" or "Intellectual Property" Clause (Article 1 § 8, clause 8).

As defined in Black's Law Dictionary (11th Ed. 2019), the term TRADEMARK means/ refers to:

"1. A word, phrase, logo, or other sensory symbol used by a manufacturer or seller to distinguish its products or services from those of others. • The main purpose of a trademark is to designate the source of goods or services. 2. The body of law dealing with how businesses distinctively identify their products."

Primary Law - Statutes

The Lanham (Trademark) Act:  15 U.S.C.

From the USPTO: The Lanham Act

From the Legal Information Institute (LII) at Cornell Law School:  Lanham Act

Getting Started

Selected online resources

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is "the federal agency for granting U.S. patents and registering trademarks. In doing this, the USPTO fulfills the mandate of Article I, Section 8, Clause 8, of the Constitution that the legislative branch "promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.""

The USPTO registers trademarks based on the commerce clause of the Constitution (Article I, Section 8, Clause 3).

The USPTO website provides online resources to search for existing trademarks, register new trademarks, and reference materials to assist users in learning the basics of trademark law and the trademarks registration process.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

You can also visit the USPTO's Patent and Trademark Resource Center:  PTRC Basic Resources | USPTO

Selected Additional Reading