A bill to amend the Trademark Act of 1946 to prohibit a private entity from registering a trademark that is used by the United States Government for the purposes of Department of Defense or Armed Forces awards, and for other purposes.

Ted Cruz

Republican · TX · Senator

Source: Congress.gov · FEC

No cosponsors on record. Bills can pass without cosponsors — this often means the sponsor introduced the bill alone, either because it's a messaging bill, a chairman's mark, or simply early in the legislative cycle.

Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

2026-06-24

Source: Congress.gov

The government would prevent private companies and individuals from trademarking symbols, logos, or names that the military already uses for official awards and honors. This protects military decorations like the Medal of Honor and Purple Heart from being commercialized or misused by businesses trying to profit off them. The change affects trademark applicants and companies that might otherwise try to register these protected military symbols as their own brands.

AI-assisted summary generated from the official bill metadata (title, subjects, actions) sourced from Congress.gov. Cached and reviewed. Always verify against the official text linked below.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [S. 4902 Introduced in Senate (IS)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 4902 To amend the Trademark Act of 1946 to prohibit a private entity from registering a trademark that is used by the United States Government for the purposes of Department of Defense or Armed Forces awards, and for other purposes. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES June 24, 2026 Mr. Cruz introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To amend the Trademark Act of 1946 to prohibit a private entity from registering a trademark that is used by the United States Government for the purposes of Department of Defense or Armed Forces awards, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Preservation of Rights and Ownership of Traditional Emblems, Crests, and Tributes Act'' or the ``PROTECT Act''. SEC. 2. REGISTRATION OF TRADEMARKS. (a) In General.--Section 2 of the Act entitled ``An Act to provide for the registration and protection of trademarks used in commerce, to carry out the provisions of certain international conventions, and for other purposes'', approved July 5, 1946 (commonly known as the ``Trademark Act of 1946'') (15 U.S.C. 1052), is amended-- (1) by redesignating subsection (f) as subsection (g); (2) by inserting after subsection (e) the following: ``(f) Is authorized, issued, or controlled by the Government for the purposes of Department of Defense or Armed Forces awards, decorations, campaign and service ribbons, or medals, except that such a mark may be registered at the discretion of the agency or department of the Government that controls the official use of the mark.''; and (3) in subsection (g), as so redesignated-- (A) in the first sentence, by striking ``and (e)(5)'' and inserting ``(e)(5), and (f)''; and (B) by adding at the end the following: ``Nothing in subsection (f) may be construed to prohibit the continued use of a mark on or after the date of enactment of the Preservation of Rights and Ownership of Traditional Emblems, Crests, and Tributes Act by any person or entity, including a nonprofit organization, if that person or entity was using that mark before that date of enactment and that use was lawful before that date of enactment, except that, on and after that date of enactment, no person or entity other than an agency or department of the Government described in that subsection may register such a mark on the principal register.''. (b) Technical and Conforming Amendments.--The Act entitled ``An Act to provide for the registration and protection of trademarks used in commerce, to carry out the provisions of certain international conventions, and for other purposes'', approved July 5, 1946 (commonly known as the ``Trademark Act of 1946'') (15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq.), is amended-- (1) in section 1(d)(1) (15 U.S.C. 1051(d)(1)), by striking ``subsections (a) through (e) of section 2'' and inserting ``subsections (a) through (f) of section 2''; and (2) in section 26 (15 U.S.C. 1094), by striking ``2(f)'' and inserting ``2(g)''. <all>

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