9781601382313 by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atlantic Publishing
Published: 2014-10-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

History of Trademarks

“People recognize intellectual property the same way they recognize real estate. People understand what property is. But it’s a new kind of property, and so the understanding uses new control surfaces. It uses a new way of defining the property.”

Michael Nesmith

Trademark history goes back quite a ways. The marking of goods for various purposes, including differentiating them from those of other traders, dates back to ancient times. In the same way, the existence of rules governing the use of such marks goes back to the medieval craft guilds.

From the beginning of time and the use of cave paintings to the stone seals of some 5,000 years ago, trademarks have been used to designate the property of one person or tribe from another. In ancient times the Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians all used a form of trademark, either markings or stamps to indicate which of them had made a certain item. Not only did this lead to rewards for those who made the items, but it also allowed for blame when the items failed.

It was only in the 19th century that people began to think of marks, which had become distinctive of a trader’s goods and so attracted valuable goodwill, as a type of property. In the middle of that century, the right to take action in the courts against infringement of a trademark came about, even when there was no intention to deceive on the part of the infringer.

Livestock from the Stone Age to the old West were branded to depict ownership. Masons in Egypt more than 6,000 years ago used stonecutter signs and quarry marks to show who completed the work. It has always been commonplace in the practice of creating goods to certify the origin with a graphic design or mark, and if the quality was good that mark brought more prestige to the creator.

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