H.R. No. 1962
 
 
 
R E S O L U T I O N
         WHEREAS, July 5, 2021, is the 75th anniversary of the signing
  of the Lanham Act by President Harry S. Truman, marking a
  significant milestone in the effort to protect American consumers
  and manufacturers from the proliferation of counterfeit goods; and
         WHEREAS, Counterfeit products undermine laws, threaten the
  economy, and pose both potential and actual harm to consumers in
  Texas and across the nation; in April 2021, the Organization for
  Economic Cooperation and Development reported that counterfeit
  goods were on the rise, constituting as much as 3.3 percent of
  globally traded goods at a cost of $500 billion; there are
  approximately 180,000 registered trademarks owned by Texas
  businesses and more than 2.5 million active trademarks in the
  United States, and each year, brand owners ranging from small
  businesses to major corporations collectively spend billions of
  dollars to remove counterfeit products from circulation; and
         WHEREAS, Also known as the Trademark Act of 1946, the Lanham
  Act provides the foundation for modern federal trademark
  protection, creating remedies for brand owners and helping
  consumers by reducing the number of counterfeit and confusingly
  similar products in the marketplace; cited in over 50 Supreme Court
  decisions and 54,000 cases in state and federal courts, the act has
  helped establish a nationwide framework for the protection of
  logos, words, phrases, names, packaging, scents, shapes, colors,
  and other elements of trademark; these measures help protect the
  integrity of consumer goods ranging from soap and toothpaste to
  pharmaceuticals and military equipment; and
         WHEREAS, The primary sponsor of the act was Fritz Lanham of
  Fort Worth, who represented the 12th Congressional District in the
  U.S. House of Representatives from 1919 to 1947; during his
  remarkable 27-year tenure, he served as chair of the House
  Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, playing a vital role in
  the construction of such important federal buildings as the Pan
  American Union Building, the Longworth House Office Building, and
  many U.S. courthouses and post offices; he also served on the
  Supreme Court Building Commission under former president and chief
  justice William Howard Taft, helping to oversee the construction of
  the U.S. Supreme Court building, on time and under budget; and
         WHEREAS, For 75 years, the Lanham Act has enabled the
  U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to administer a strong and
  effective federal trademark system, and in so doing, this important
  legislation has helped protect both brand owners and consumers in
  the marketplace; now, therefore, be it
         RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 87th Texas
  Legislature hereby commemorate the 75th anniversary of the passage
  of the Lanham Act and pay tribute to the life and legacy of
  U.S. Representative Fritz Lanham.
 
  Geren
 
  ______________________________
  Speaker of the House     
 
         I certify that H.R. No. 1962 was adopted by the House on May
  31, 2021, by a non-record vote.
 
  ______________________________
  Chief Clerk of the House