A treatise on the federal registration of trademarks

The law of trademarks is of comparatively recent origin, although there is evidence that symbols having the functions of trademarks have been used since the earliest days of antiquity. The use of trademarks on an extensive scale, however, was not begun until the beginning of the modern era of large scale production and quick transportation. In the earlier years, by virtue of the limited field in which a trader operated, good will was measured by personal contact. And it was only when commerce grew beyond the bounds of personal contact that marks and symbols came into general use as guarantees of the origin and merit of goods. We find one of the earliest instances of the use of identification symbols in the hallmarks of the English cutlers. But even as late as 1742 protection of the exclusive use of a trademark was refused by Lord Chancellor Hardwicke, the learned judge "not knowing of any instance of granting an injunction here to restrain one trader from using the same trademark with another.".