The Illinois Trademark Registration and Protection Act (“Illinois Trademark Act”) provides a system for registering and enforcing trademarks in Illinois.  765 ILCS 1036/1 et seq. However, in many instances there may not be any relevant cases interpreting the provisions of the Illinois Trademark Act. Section 90 of the Act may solve this problem by providing that cases interpreting the federal Lanham Act are persuasive authority for interpreting similar provisions of the Illinois Trademark Act. 765 ILCS 1036/90.
In particular, section 90 states:
…The intent of this Act is to provide a system of State trademark registration and protection substantially consistent with the federal system of trademark registration and protection under the Trademark Act of 1946, as amended. To that end, the construction given the federal Act shall be examined as persuasive authority for interpreting and construing this Act.
Since there are many more cases interpreting the federal Lanham Act, section 90 provides those cases will likely be useful in understanding the meaning of parallel provisions of the Illinois Trademark Act.