17 Seconds #98. Useful Info Quickly.
From 2011-2013, I taught the Patent Law 101 class as an adjunct professor at Maine Law. I also created the patent law 101 category on this website for articles covering basic concepts in patent law.
The United States Constitution is our country’s most important legal document. The structure of our government comes from the Constitution. So do many individual rights. When teaching patent law, I began every class by reciting the following 32 words from Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution:
“The Congress shall have Power … To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;”
All of our patent laws derive from these 32 words.
But since trademarks are not mentioned in the Constitution, there is nothing preventing the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) from revoking trademark rights, and leaving it up to the states to protect these rights (or not). Trademarks? Not in the Constitution. Women’s rights, LGBTQ rights? Not in the Constitution. (Trust me, SCOTUS scanned the Constitution, OCRed the Constitution, and looked very very carefully for these words – but did not find them.)
A constitutional right is a good gig – if you can get it. But perhaps it’s time to amend the Constitution.
17 Seconds is a publication for clients and other VIPs. Powered by Mailchimp and the beat of a different keyboard player. Click here to subscribe to 17 Seconds.
[EDITOR’S NOTE: In the summer of 2025, Clocktower Intern Mark Magyar used artificial intelligence (AI) software to shorten over 100 Clocktower articles by 17%. The shortened articles are included as comments to the original ones. And 17 is the most random number (https://www.giantpeople.com/4497.html) (https://www.clocktowerlaw.com/5919.html).]
* You Have A Constitutional Right To Patents And Guns – But Not To Trademarks Or Privacy (Go Figure)
17 Seconds #98. Useful Info Quickly.
From 2011–2013, I taught Patent Law 101 as an adjunct professor at Maine Law. I also created the Patent Law 101 category on this site for articles on patent basics.
The U.S. Constitution is our nation’s most important legal document. It defines government structure and many individual rights. When teaching, I opened every class with these 32 words from Article 1, Section 8:
“The Congress shall have Power … To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;”
All patent law derives from these 32 words.
But trademarks aren’t in the Constitution, so SCOTUS could revoke trademark rights and leave them to the states. Trademarks? Not there. Women’s rights, LGBTQ rights? Not there. (SCOTUS has scanned and OCRed it—those words don’t appear.)
A constitutional right is a great gig—if you can get it. Maybe it’s time to amend the Constitution.