The PROTECT Act prohibits the federal trademark registration of military and defense-related awards, decorations, and emblems by private parties to ensure government control over these official symbols.
Ted Cruz
Senator
TX
The **Preservation of Rights and Ownership of Traditional Emblems, Crests, and Tributes (PROTECT) Act** prohibits the federal registration of trademarks associated with Department of Defense or Armed Forces awards, decorations, and medals. This legislation ensures that these official symbols remain under the control of the government while protecting the rights of existing lawful users to continue their current practices.
PROTECT Act Bars Private Trademarks on Military Medals: New Rules for Defense Symbols and Honors
The Preservation of Rights and Ownership of Traditional Emblems, Crests, and Tributes Act—or the PROTECT Act—aims to lock down the legal rights to military honors. Specifically, it amends the Lanham Act to stop private individuals or companies from registering trademarks for Department of Defense awards, service ribbons, and medals. Think of the Purple Heart or the Medal of Honor; under this bill, the federal government officially holds the keys to these symbols. While the Department of Defense can choose to register these marks, private entities are effectively blocked from claiming them as exclusive federal trademarks moving forward.
Locking the Trophy Case
Under Section 2 of the bill, the government is drawing a hard line around military decorations. If an emblem is authorized or controlled by the Department of Defense for awards and service ribbons, it can no longer be registered as a trademark by anyone else. For example, a clothing brand looking to trademark a specific campaign ribbon for a new line of jackets would find their application rejected at the starting line. This provision ensures that symbols of national service aren't co-opted for purely commercial gain, keeping the 'ownership' of these honors within the branches of the military that issued them.
The 'Grandfather' Clause and Its Catch
For those already using these symbols, the bill offers a bit of a mixed bag. If you’re a veteran-owned nonprofit or a memorabilia collector who was lawfully using one of these marks before the bill passes, you are allowed to keep using it. However, there is a significant catch in Section 2: while you can keep using the mark, you can never federally register it. This creates a 'frozen in time' status. A local charity using a military-style crest might be safe from a lawsuit, but they won't have the same high-level federal legal protections that a registered trademark provides, which could make it harder for them to stop others from copying their specific branding in the future.
Behind the Bureaucracy
The bill also cleans up some of the technical plumbing in the Trademark Act. It updates internal references—like shifting 'subsections (a) through (e)' to '(a) through (f)' in Section 1(d)(1)—to ensure the new rules don't break existing legal definitions. While this sounds like minor housekeeping, it’s what makes the new restrictions enforceable. The real-world result is a centralized system where the government has total discretion over who gets to officially brand military honors, shifting power away from the private market and back into the hands of federal agencies.