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Intellectual Property Research: Trademark Statutes & Legislation

A guide to the major information sources of intellectual property legal research.

Statutory Trademark Law

U.S. federal trademark law is found in chapter 22 of title 15 of the U.S. Code. The United States Code can be found online at the website of its publisher, the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the United States House of Representatives, or at govinfo.

Annotated versions of the United States Code are published by West (United States Code Annotated or U.S.C.A.) and Lexis (United States Code Service or U.S.C.S.) and are available online in Westlaw Edge and Lexis Plus, respectively. HeinOnline offers full historic coverage of the U.S. Code, which can be useful when faced with an issue based on a previous trademark law.

Trademarks can also be protected by state law. The codes of individual states should be consulted for how those jurisdictions manage their trademark issues.

Selected Trademark Legislation

Lanham Act

Trademark Counterfeiting Act of 1984

Trademark Law Revision Act of 1988

Trademark Remedy Clarification Act

Federal Trademark Dilution Act of 1995

Trademark Law Treaty Implementation Act

Trademark Amendments Act of 1999

Trademark Dilution Revision Act of 2006

PRO-IP Act

Legislative History Resources