Bill Text: MI HB4855 | 2011-2012 | 96th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Trade; other; state trademark law; prohibit registration of trademark for any illegal activity. Amends sec. 2 of 1969 PA 242 (MCL 429.32).

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 24-4)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-07-27 - Printed Bill Filed 07/01/2011 [HB4855 Detail]

Download: Michigan-2011-HB4855-Introduced.html

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HOUSE BILL No. 4855

 

June 30, 2011, Introduced by Reps. Horn, Liss, McBroom, Walsh, Cavanagh, Glardon, Moss, Knollenberg, Kowall, Callton, Heise, MacMaster, Rendon, Cotter, MacGregor, Crawford, Tyler, Price, Olson, Outman, Goike, Bledsoe, Agema, Lyons, Meadows, Daley, Kurtz and Jacobsen and referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

 

     A bill to amend 1969 PA 242, entitled

 

"An act to provide for the registration of trademarks and service

marks; to prescribe the powers and duties of certain state officers

and agencies; to prescribe remedies; and to repeal certain acts and

parts of acts,"

 

by amending section 2 (MCL 429.32), as amended by 1984 PA 203.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 2. A The administrator shall not register a mark by which

 

the goods or services of an applicant for registration may be

 

distinguished from the goods or services of others shall not be

 

registered if the mark meets any of the following:

 

     (a) Consists of or comprises immoral, deceptive, or scandalous

 

matter or matter that is illegal under state or federal law.

 

     (b) Consists of or comprises matter which that may disparage

 

or falsely suggest a connection with persons, living or dead,

 

institutions, beliefs, or national symbols, or bring them into

 

contempt or disrepute.

 

     (c) Consists of or comprises the a flag, coat of arms, or

 

other insignia, or a simulation of a flag, coat of arms, or other

 

insignia, of the United States, or of a state or municipality, or

 

of a foreign nation. , or a simulation thereof.

 

     (d) Consists of or comprises the name, signature, or portrait

 

of a living individual, except with the individual's written

 

consent.

 

     (e) Consists of a mark which, that, when applied to the goods

 

or services of the applicant, is merely descriptive or deceptively

 

misdescriptive of the goods or services, or when applied to the

 

goods or services of the applicant, is primarily geographically

 

descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive of them, or is primarily

 

merely a surname. This subsection shall does not prevent the

 

registration of a mark used in this state by the applicant which

 

that has become distinctive of the applicant's goods or services.

 

The administrator may accept as evidence that the mark has become

 

distinctive, as applied to the applicant's goods or services, proof

 

of continuous use thereof of the mark as a mark by the applicant in

 

this state or elsewhere for 5 years immediately preceding the date

 

of the filing of the application for registration.

 

     (f) Consists of or comprises a mark which that so resembles a

 

mark registered in this state, or a mark or trade name previously

 

used in this state by another person and not abandoned, as to be

 

likely, when applied to the goods or services of the applicant, to

 

cause confusion , or mistake , or to deceive.