Trade-Mark Cases

Citation: Trade-Mark Cases, 100 U.S. 82 (1879).

Supreme Court Proceedings
In the Trade-Mark Cases, the U.S. Supreme Court held the first federal trademark act to be unconstitutional because it was enacted pursuant to the intellectual property clause. “Any attempt ... to identify the essential characteristics of a trade-mark with inventions and discoveries in the arts and sciences, or with the writings of authors, will show that the effort is surrounded with insurmountable difficulties.”