Trademarks in Cyberspace: Fulfilling the Use Requirement through the Internet
![handle is hein.journals/jpatos78 and id is 844 raw text is: Trademarks in Cyberspace: Fulfilling
the Use Requirement Through the
Internet
Brian G. Gilpin*
I. INTRODUCTION
I J ntellectual property is a subtle and esoteric area of the law that
/evolves in response to technological change.' As the technol-
ogy allowing both consumers and businesses to easily conduct trans-
actions over the Internet advances, lawyers will be faced with numerous
challenges to traditional legal concepts. The development of user-
friendly technology will affect all areas of the law from intellectual
property to tort to contracts.
One especially problematic area of trademark law in light of tech-
nological advances is the use requirement.2 While the United States and
many other common law countries require a mark to be used in com-
merce before granting it protection, the majority of the world's nations
rely on registration systems with use being a prerequisite to renewal or
enforcement. The development of the Internet and the rise of the global
economy necessitate a reevaluation of the type of use required to meet
the use requirement. This paper proposes that when a trademark is used
in a World Wide Web page or its equivalent, the use requirement is
Copyright © 1996 by Brian G. Gilpin
* Brian G. Gilpin is a third year law student at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago. He
earned a Civil Engineering degree from Purdue University in June, 1993, and is a registered United
States Patent Agent. Mr. Gilpin was the Editor-in-Chief of the John Marshall Journal of Computer
& Information Law and will begin a career in intellectual property law in 1996.
1 BRUCE A. LEHMAN, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, IINTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND THE NA-
TIONAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE: THE REPORT OF THE WORKING GROUP ON INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY RIGHTS 7 (1995) [hereinafter WHITE PAPER].
2 Another problem area is infringement when a mark is protected in one country but not in
another. Is it an infringement for a non-owner to use the mark from a country where the mark is
not protected but allow access to the mark from the country where the mark is protected? Is this
the exportation of infringing goods? If so, what court has jurisdiction? The answer to these ques-
tions is beyond the scope of this paper but the issue of conflicting protections in the international
arena must be resolved for the Internet to become the international marketplace of the future.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/jpatos78&div=117&collection=journals&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Trademarks in Cyberspace: Fulfilling the Use Requirement through the Internet
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