CONSUMER PRODUCTS AND RETAIL E-SSENTIALS

USA: Federal Trade Commission amends the Textile Rules (16 CFR 303)

February 2018- Relevant for: Softlines

On 23 January 2018, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has amended the Textile Rules (16 CFR 303)¹ by removing the registration submission requirement that requires an owner of a registered word trademark, used as a house mark, to provide the FTC with a copy of the registration before using the trademark on the label of textile products.

This amendment will be effective on 22 February 2018.

One of the requirements of the current Textile Rules (16 CFR 303)² is to indicate the name of manufacturer or responsible company or registered identification number (RN) of that company on the label attached to a textile product. The current regulation allows the owners of registered word trademarks, those are used as house marks, to disclose such trademarks on labels in lieu of their business names. However, before using such trademark on the label, the company must furnish the FTC with a copy of the mark’s registration with the USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office). This requirement was incorporated in 1959 due to considering the difficulties in identifying owners of word trademarks.

Now, in this new rule, FTC does not require a copy of such mark’s registration to be submitted by the company, as FTC staff and consumers can identify such trademark owners easily by searching online or on the USPTO’s online database.

However, in the new rule, FTC restricts the use of trademark, trade names, or other names those are not used as house mark, as there are possibilities of identical word trademarks can be registered numerous times for different goods or services.

[1] Final Rule
[2] Current Textile Rules (16 CFR 303)
[3] Previous E-ssentials on Proposed Rule