Texas 2021 - 87th Regular

Texas Senate Bill SR324 Compare Versions

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1	1	SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 324
2	2	WHEREAS, July 5, 2021, is the 75th anniversary of the
3	3	signing of the Lanham Act by President Harry S. Truman, marking a
4	4	significant milestone in the effort to protect American
5	5	consumers and manufacturers from the proliferation of
6	6	counterfeit goods; and
7	7	WHEREAS, Counterfeit products undermine laws, threaten the
8	8	economy, and pose both potential and actual harm to consumers in
9	9	Texas and across the nation; in April 2021, the Organization for
10	10	Economic Cooperation and Development reported that counterfeit
11	11	goods were on the rise, constituting as much as 3.3 percent of
12	12	globally traded goods at a cost of $500 billion; there are
13	13	approximately 135,000 registered trademarks owned by Texas
14	14	businesses and more than 2.5 million active trademarks in the
15	15	United States, and each year, brand owners ranging from small
16	16	businesses to major corporations collectively spend billions of
17	17	dollars to remove counterfeit products from circulation; and
18	18	WHEREAS, Also known as the Trademark Act of 1946, the Lanham
19	19	Act provides the foundation for modern federal trademark
20	20	protection, creating remedies for brand owners and helping
21	21	consumers by reducing the number of counterfeit and confusingly
22	22	similar products in the marketplace; cited in over 50 Supreme Court
23	23	decisions and 54,000 cases in state and federal courts, the act has
24	24	helped establish a nationwide framework for the protection of
25	25	logos, words, phrases, names, packaging, scents, shapes, colors,
26	26	and other elements of trademark; these measures help protect the
27	27	integrity of consumer goods ranging from soap and toothpaste to
28	28	pharmaceuticals and military equipment; and
29	29	WHEREAS, The primary sponsor of the act was Fritz Lanham of
30	30	Fort Worth, who represented the 12th Congressional District in
31	31	the U.S. House of Representatives from 1919 to 1947; during his
32	32	remarkable 27-year tenure, he served as chair of the House
33	33	Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, playing a vital role
34	34	in the construction of such important federal buildings as the
35	35	Pan American Union Building, the Longworth House Office
36	36	Building, and many U.S. courthouses and post offices; he also
37	37	served on the Supreme Court Building Commission under former
38	38	president and chief justice William Howard Taft, helping to
39	39	oversee the construction of the U.S. Supreme Court building, on
40	40	time and under budget; and
41	41	WHEREAS, For 75 years, the Lanham Act has enabled the
42	42	U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to administer a strong and
43	43	effective federal trademark system, and in so doing, this
44	44	important legislation has helped protect both brand owners and
45	45	consumers in the marketplace; now, therefore, be it
46	46	RESOLVED, That the Senate of the State of Texas, 87th
47	47	Legislature, hereby commemorate the 75th anniversary of the
48	48	passage of the Lanham Act and pay tribute to the life and legacy
49	49	of U.S. Representative Fritz Lanham.
50	50	Powell
51	51	________________________________
52	52	President of the Senate
53	53	I hereby certify that the
54	54	above Resolution was adopted by
55	55	the Senate on April 27, 2021.
56	56	________________________________
57	57	Secretary of the Senate
58	58	________________________________
59	59	Member, Texas Senate