Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/16pdf/15-1293_1o13.pdf
Page Number: 7.0

Cite as:  582 U. S. ____ (2017) 

3 

Opinion of the Court 

Congress  stepped  in  to  provide  a  degree  of  national  uni-
formity,  passing  the  first  federal  legislation  protecting
trademarks in 1870.  See Act of July 8, 1870, §§77–84, 16
Stat.  210–212.   The  foundation  of  current  federal  trade-
mark law is the Lanham Act, enacted in 1946.  See Act of 
July  5,  1946,  ch.  540,  60  Stat.  427.    By  that  time,  trade-
mark  had  expanded  far  beyond  phrases  that  do  no  more 
than identify a good or service.  Then, as now, trademarks 
often consisted of catchy phrases that convey a message.

Under  the  Lanham  Act,  trademarks  that  are  “used  in 
commerce” may be placed on the “principal register,” that 
is,  they  may  be  federally  registered. 
15  U. S. C. 
§1051(a)(1).  And  some  marks  “capable  of  distinguishing
[an]  applicant’s  goods  or  services  and  not  registrable  on
the  principal  register  . . .  which  are  in  lawful  use  in  com-
merce  by  the  owner  thereof ”  may  instead  be  placed  on  a 
different  federal  register:  the  supplemental  register.
§1091(a).  There  are  now  more  than  two  million  marks 
that  have  active  federal  certificates  of  registration.    PTO 
Performance  and  Accountability  Report,  Fiscal  Year  2016,
p.  192  (Table  15),  https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/
documents/USPTOFY16PAR.pdf (all Internet materials as
last  visited  June  16,  2017).    This  system  of  federal  regis-
tration helps to ensure that trademarks are fully protected
and  supports  the  free  flow  of  commerce.  “[N]ational  pro-
tection  of  trademarks  is  desirable,”  we  have  explained, 
“because  trademarks  foster  competition  and  the  mainte-
nance of quality by securing to the producer the benefits of 
good  reputation.”  San  Francisco  Arts  &  Athletics,  Inc.  v. 
United  States  Olympic  Comm.,  483  U. S.  522,  531  (1987) 
(internal  quotation  marks  omitted);  see  also  Park  ’N  Fly, 
Inc.,  supra,  at  198  (“The  Lanham  Act  provides  national 
protection of trademarks in order to secure to the owner of
the  mark  the  goodwill  of  his  business  and  to  protect  the
ability  of  consumers  to  distinguish  among  competing 
producers”).