My research has led to unexpected discoveries and areas of learning relevant to the artisan.


Academic paper by Lemly refers to an academic paper by Brown only two years after the Lanham Act was enacted: *[The Modern Lanham Act and the Death of Common Sense](https://law-journals-books.vlex.com/vid/the-modern-lanham-act-633019301)* by Mark A. Lemley published in 1999.


[W]hat appear to be private disputes among hucksters almost invariably touch the public welfare. We shall therefore be concerned to ask, when courts protect trade symbols, whether their decisions further public as well as private goals.(1) When Ralph Brown wrote his seminal article on trademark law fifty years ago, the modern era of trademark law had just begun. The Lanham Act, the foundation of trademark law today, was only two years old,(2) and the nature of modern commerce was only just beginning to take shape.


Both authors point out that the Lanham act as written is directed against misrepresentation and identity theft, becasue this harms the public.


Both authors seem to deplore the admittedly inevitable evolution in an increasingly commercialized society where trademarks war against each other.


Both authors wonder:


Why should the government be involved with protecting the rights of commercial trademarks? I came across this article by accident while
doing research. I would like to know about the Lanham Act in practice.


My Question:


As the Lanham Act is applied today in civil cases, are there more cases where the issue is trademark violation? or are the more cases where the disputed issue has to do with misrepresentation and consumer fraud?



Is the Lanham Act used to protect commercial trademarks? or for protecting the public from fraud?