Lanham Trademark Act and the Internet: Cybersquatting, Meta Tagging, Hyperlinking, and Framing

Abstract

The Lanham Act was signed into law in 1946, serves as the federal trademark law in the United States. Congress has amended the Lanham Act nearly twenty times as society and technology has evolved. A brief review of recent modifications of the Act in light of the Internet are discussed. The Internet forced major trade changes as it moved from a limited access system to a world wide commercail entity. Trademark law was not designed with the Internet in mind. The main focus of this paper is on selected applications of the Lanham Act as applied to the Internet and related technology.