Trademark history timeline

This page offers a timeline covering the evolution of trademark law and the history of some major marks. There's a separate, more general communications and media timeline.

     beginnings

1266 earliest English law on trademarks - the 'Bakers Marking Law'

1353 English law recognises tatute passed whereby merchants whose goods had been pirated, could provide evidence of ownership using marks appearing on the goods

1363 mandatory use of assay and makers mark by English silversmiths

1365 London cutlers obtain protection for their monopoly and their marks in London, requiring registration with city officials.

1373 English ordinance requires bottle-makers to use a 'merchant a mark'

1452 earliest UK litigation over merchant mark

1618 Southern v How case considered birth of commercial trademark law in England

1653 Delft porcelain manufacturers adapt (or copy) Chinese ceramic marks

1751 mandatory use of signatures by Parisian furniture makers

1791 after disputes over sail-cloth marks, Thomas Jefferson recommends trademark legislation based on commerce clause of US Constitution

1842 state law in Michigan regarding marks on timber

     the industrial era

1857 trademark laws enacted in France

1862 trademark laws passed in UK

1870 US trademark legislation, based on copyright clause of Constitution and later repealed

1870 first US trademark granted to Averill Paints

1876 Bass brewery registers first trademark in UK

1880 Singer sewing machine mark registered

1881 first US trademark legislation based on Commerce clause

1883 first international trademark agreement - the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property

1884 Trademark Law in Japan

1887 Coca-Cola first used as trademark

1889 Colt mark for firearms registered

1895 Quaker oats registered

1896 Pepsi-Cola registered

1900 Mercedes registered in US

1901 HMV 'Nipper' trademark in UK

1903 Cadillac registered

1905 Rolls-Royce registered in US

1905 US Trademark Act extends protection to interstate commerce

1905 Victrola registered

1907 Dictaphone registered

1908 Gillette

1910 National Geographic

1911 Vaporub

1913 Chevrolet registered

1914 Paramount Pictures 'Mountain' registered

1915 Fox Film

1919 FIAT registered in US

1920 Electrolux

1920 Band-Aid

1922 RCA

1924 MGM 'Lion'

1926 Movietone

1926 Time magazine

1927 Levi's

1928 Mickey Mouse

1931 Alka-Seltzer

1933 Clairol

1933 Firestone

     Lanham and beyond

1946 US Lanham Act passed - foundation of US cybersquatting legislation

1964 McDonald's 'arches' registered

1971 US NBC granted trademark for sequence of notes identifying broadcasting service

1972 Exxon registered

1977 Coca-Cola bottle registered as a three dimensional mark

1987 Owens-Corning granted US trademark for the pink in fibreglass insulation batts

1995 Trade Marks Act 1995 provides new definition in Australia

1997 United States Patent & Trademark Office considers registration of domain names





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