WOE UNTO YOU TRADE-MARK OWNERS

THE new Trade-Mark Act,1 widely heralded as giving added protection to trade-mark owners, has in its nearly four years of operation resulted, in several spectacular instances, in narrowing the rights conferred by the registration and use of trade-marks. Text author Rudolph Callmann remarked after the act\u27s first birthday: Despite all the efforts of the bar, our courts still cling to the familiar anachronisms. 2 Where do trade-mark owners stand today? The Supreme Court has to date failed to answer this question, and the federal courts have refused to consider the import of the new legislation. Many commentators, attorneys and scholars thought that the enactment of the Lanham Act would provide for uniformity of decisions and make everything right with the trade-mark world. An examination of the recent case law proves that nothing could be farther from the fact; the decisions interpreting the act reveal evidence of confusion and inconsistency in the findings of the courts