| |
| |
|
|
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. |