Until the late Middle Ages the craft guilds were the dominant means for regulating and certifying the qualities of goods and workmanship. Craftsmen were required to use their personal mark on their products for traceability and regulatory liability purposes. In addition to the craftsman’s mark, the guild mark, reminiscent of the modern collective mark, appeared on goods to indicate that they originated in the guild. As the power of the guilds waned, from the sixteenth century onwards a personal trademark right began to evolve. The erstwhile regulatory mark used by the craftsman became his trademark, a symbol of goodwill to be valued by its owner. With the advent of the industrial revolution and emergence of the entrepreneurial class a climate of economic liberalism developed that was conducive to the ascendancy firstly of a passing off right and later, towards the end of the nineteenth century, a registration right in trademarks. Key words: history; certification mark; collective mark; trademark
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