By: Carona S.B. No. 1033
(Villalba)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the registration and use of marks, including trademarks
and service marks.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 16.002, Business & Commerce Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 16.002. INAPPLICABILITY OF CHAPTER. (a) This
chapter does not apply to the registration or use of a livestock
brand or other indicia of ownership of goods that do not qualify as
a mark.
(b) Except as provided by this subsection, a trade name is
not registrable under this chapter. If a trade name is also a
service mark or trademark, the trade name is registrable as a
service mark or trademark.
SECTION 2. Subsection (c), Section 16.003, Business &
Commerce Code, is amended to read as follows:
(c) Use of a [A] mark made merely to reserve a right in the
mark is not considered to be a bona fide [in] use of a mark for
purposes of [in] this chapter [state in connection with goods or
services].
SECTION 3. Subsection (b), Section 16.059, Business &
Commerce Code, is amended to read as follows:
(b) The registration of a mark under this chapter may be
renewed for an additional five-year term by filing a renewal
application in the manner prescribed by the secretary of state and
paying a renewal fee not earlier [later] than the 180th day before
the date the registration expires.
SECTION 4. The change in law made by this Act to Subsection
(b), Section 16.059, Business & Commerce Code, applies only to a
renewal application filed on or after the effective date of this
Act. A renewal application filed before the effective date of this
Act is governed by the law in effect immediately before that date,
and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.