Florida Trademark Infringement Litigation
Florida trademark infringement lawsuits can be brought under either the Florida trademark statute (Chapter 495) or under federal law (Lanham Act) depending upon whether or not a federal trademark registration has been obtained. If you are not sure if you or someone else has obtained a Florida trademark registration, you may want to do a search on the Florida trademark database. Many general practitioners in Florida only occassionally see intellectual property litigation of any type, much less, Florida trademark litigation, and are not aware of the benefits of Florida’s trademark statute.
At one time, state law was seen as providing the primary venue for protection of trademarks. All of this changed, however, when federal trademark laws were enacted by Congress. The main federal statute is the Lanham Act and it was enacted in 1946 and amended numerous times since then. Federal law has since provided the most extensive protection of trademarks. However, it would be a mistake to dismiss Florida state law remedies for trademark infringement, particularly in view of the recent amendments to Florida’s trademark statute.