Utah Trademark Protection Act
Much has already been said (mostly bad but some good) about the Trademark Protection Act recently adopted by the Utah Legislature, which, according to the Act's general description, "establishes a new type of mark, called an electronic registration mark, that may not be used to trigger advertising for a competitor and creates a database for use in administering marks."
Whatever the merits of the legislation, the debate over the pros and cons of the Act has demonstrated the power and reach of blogs (if that still needed to be demonstrated) with even the Act's sponsor, Utah Senator Dan Eastman, taking to the blogosphere to defend the Act from its critics (or "the fringes" as he rather uncharitably characterizes them). See here for an interesting critique of the Senator's defense from Eric Goldman of the Technology & Marketing Law Blog.
Check back for more on the Utah Trademark Protection Act as events unfold but for now, see here for the letter from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Professor Eric Goldman and others to the Utah Attorney General asking him to stay implementation of the Act pending further investigation (hat tip to Martin Schwimmer at The Trademark Blog).
