SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 324

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 135,000 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 Senate of the State of Texas, 87th 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.

Powell

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President of the Senate

I hereby certify that the above Resolution was adopted by the Senate on April 27, 2021.

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Secretary of the Senate

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Member, Texas Senate