Angie Craig: “today Senator Durbin and I are introducing legislation strengthening current law concerning certification marks…”

“today Senator Durbin and I are introducing legislation strengthening current law concerning certification marks, collective marks, and service marks. While some of our colleagues may not recognize these terms, I doubt there is any Senator who has not come into contact with one of these marks. For example, if you bought the best baking potatoes in the world, you are familiar with the ``Grown in Idaho'' or ``Idaho Potatoes'' certification mark. Perhaps you know the certification mark ``UL,'' which stands for Underwriters Laboratory and signifies that an electrical product meets certain safety standards. If you watch network television and have seen the CBS ``eye,'' you have seen a service mark. The union labels on many products are collective marks. To explain the differences among these marks: service marks are words, names, symbols, or characters that distinguish the mark holder's services, while trademarks distinguish the mark holder's goods. Collective marks are trademarks that are used by organization or association to identify goods or services produced by members of a group. The certification mark is a trade or service mark used to certify characteristics about a product or service; it may indicate that the product or service originates in a specific geographic region, or meets certain standards of quality or mode of manufacture, or the work that went into it was performed by members of an organization.”