Extract

Ever since the Lanham Act was enacted in 1946, and especially since the World Trade Organization (WTO) came into existence in 1995, private standard-setting has increasingly interconnected with public regulation, to form a dense network some call global governance. Increasingly as well, trademarks, service marks, collective marks, and certification marks (CMs) (collectively, marks)denote specific standards such as fair trade. In this context, trademark and unfair competition law (collectively, trademark law) can and already does mediate among various stakeholders and standards in the global marketplace. However, the territorially constrained nature of trademark law limits its effective signaling functioning within global frameworks. This chapter considers the need for a more developed account of the trust function of marks for consumers in light of these regulatory trends.Trademark law, typically territorial in its reach, is nonetheless part of a greater global regulatory regime.