Trademark rights, comparative advertising, and "perfume comparison lists": An untold story of law and economics

Regarding trademarks, the EU and US regulate comparative advertising differently. One particular matter of significant difference is whether or not competitors are allowed to say they offer an imitation or replica of a trademarked product. In the US, competitors may claim equality of their product as long they clearly eliminate confusion and distinctly market their product as separate from the original. European firms, by contrast, face more obstacles concerning advertising statements conceived to establish their product as equal or identical to a competitor's trademarked product. If the economic functions of trademarks are clear, it is easier to answer a number of legal questions in the comparative advertising field. One facet rarely explored is the fact that trademarks are the “name” of a product and the legal bridge between consumers’ past and future experiences. Such experiences are referred to as attributes or qualities of a product. Attributes describe product characteristics driving individual consumer experiences. Because such experiences are difficult to objectively verify, statements of this kind must submit to particular scrutiny. In principle, the same is true regarding product qualities. Quite often, it is easy to measure quality experiences, but sometimes measuring is not possible depending on whether qualities are public or private. Like with attributes, the legality of referring to product qualities depends on verifiability. Uncertainty of an attribute’s verifiability or quality information creates a risk of undue exploitation, particularly consumer confusion. In such cases, strict regulation of comparative advertising is important. In other words, the legal system must prevent confusion in advertising because confusion increases consumer search costs. In addition to preventing confusion, the issue of trademark dilution is another aspect relevant in analyzing comparative advertising. According to European doctrine, using a competitor’s trademark in comparative advertising can be improper goodwill misappropriation. Displaying a competitor’s trademark may diminish its distinctiveness, tarnish its image and reputation, or constitute what the ECJ defines as freeriding or parasitic competition. The meandering standards of legal doctrine, however, hardly provide for consistent guidelines. Whether misappropriation is a justifiable term to use in defining comparative advertising requires a closer look at the field’s underlying economics. As we will show, in none of these constellations will the appropriation of the competitor’s investment be implemented through the market mechanism. It is not a pecuniary, but a technological externality. The metric for assessing admissibility of appropriation must thus be changed from the governing European doctrine of necessity or proportionality to a principle of economic efficiency taking into account both the trademark owner’s and the advertising competitor’s cost-benefit-ratio

Trademarks, comparative advertising, and product imitations: An untold story of law and economics

Comparative advertising is a daily phenomenon in the modern landscape of commercial communication. Interestingly, however, a deep dichotomy exists between the American legal doctrine on comparative advertising and its European counterpart. Whereas American lawyers have cultivated a rather liberal stance, Europe has preserved its historical penchant for prohibiting comparative advertising. This divergence is puzzling when it concerns the handling of so-called imitation claims and product comparison lists, especially with respect to luxury perfumes and smell-alikes, or other exclusive products and their cheaper imitations. European lawmakers, pressured by the French perfume industry, have integrated a per se prohibition on imitation claims into the European Directive on Misleading and Comparative Advertising. On the other hand, in the US, there is virtually no restriction on imitation claims and comparison lists beyond the prevention of consumer confusion and deception. Indeed, the Lanham Act expressly excludes trademark dilution claims in cases of comparative advertising. To date, however, there has been no comprehensive economic analysis of this panorama. This article seeks to fill that gap. In conducting such an analysis, it reveals severe defects in both the American and European rules on comparative advertising. It also provides the basis for a more specific reconceptualization of the field and helps formulate a theoretical and practical framework for lawmaking and policymaking

Kurt Dornis - Malerei, Grafik

Dieses Buch erscheint anlässlich der Ausstellung Kurt Dornis - Bilder einer Stadt im Studio des Stadtgeschichtlichen Museums Leipzig 21. September bis 28. November 2010

Trademark and Unfair Competition Conflicts

This book will be of interest for all jurists doing research and working practically in intellectual property law and international economic law. It should be an element of the base stock for every law school library and specialized law firm. This title is available as Open Access

Behind the Steele Curtain: An Empirical Study of Trademark Conflicts Law, 1952-2016

The law on international trademark disputes is founded on precedent from 1952. Steele v. Bulova Watch Co. is the first and only Supreme Court decision addressing the question of how far the Lanham Act should be extended beyond the United States\u27 national borders when international infringement is at issue. The decision laid the foundation for a three-pronged test that focuses on the factors of defendant nationality, effects on US commerce, and conflicts with foreign law. Although international trademark conflicts have multiplied dramatically--particularly throughout the last decade--there has been no systematic and comprehensive account of the actual state of the law. Courts and commentators continue to rely only on a small set of leading cases--Steele and a handful of appellate court opinions--when testing the territorial scope of the Lanham Act, thus ignoring the landscape of lower courts\u27 decision-making. To address this blind spot, an empirical study of the field\u27s case law from its inception in 1952 until 2016 was undertaken. The results, presented in this Article, reveal that much of the conventional wisdom regarding the state of judge-made law in trademark conflicts cases is questionable, if not incorrect. This Article not only provides new and unexpected insights into the actual extension of US trademark law beyond national territory but also explains which factors drive the outcome of extraterritoriality testing in practice, how these factors interact with one another, and how each factor has been shaped overtime. Based on these findings, this Article suggests several corrections to existing doctrine. More succinctly put, in the interest of aligning judicial practice with the realities of socioeconomic globalization, the current overextension of the Lanham Act must be curbed. The doctrine of trademark extraterritoriality that has evolved in the wake of Steele is an anticompetitive detriment rather than a rights holder panacea

Estrategias metodológicas para promover el hábito de la lectura en los estudiantes de Enfermería Intercultural

Esta investigación se realizó con el objetivo de describir las estrategias metodológicas para promover el hábito de la lectura en los estudiantes de la carrera Técnico Superior en Enfermería Intercultural en la Universidad URACCAN Extensión Waspam, durante el primer semestre del 2020. Este estudio es cualitativo, su enfoque concierne al interaccionismo simbólico porque el centro del análisis está en el estudio social de los estudiantes y docentes durante el proceso de enseñanza aprendizaje. La población conformada para el estudio fueron los estudiantes de primer año de Enfermería Intercultural y los docentes. Para la recolección de la información se aplicó la entrevista y observación en el aula de clase donde se percibió los momentos del proceso de enseñanza aprendizaje desarrollado por la y el docente. Los hallazgos encontrados revelan que los docentes implementan diversas estrategias metodológicas como los grupos de discusión, el comentario, la reflexión, el resumen, la síntesis, la lectura de cuentos y poemas , preguntas, videos, elaboraciones de esquemas y ensayos, creando ambientes para la interacción y espacio donde los estudiantes tenga la libertad de expresarse. Sin embargo, la mayoría de los estudiantes leen por obligación, no han desarrollado el hábito de la lectura, por tanto las estrategias implementadas no son suficientes para promover el hábito de la lectura. La práctica de la lectura sólo cobra sentido en el entorno que nace y se desarrolla el individuo. El lector no surge de la nada, emana en un contexto que favorece u obstaculiza la lectura. Para promover el hábito del lector en un contexto multicultural se debe tomar en cuenta las particularidades y necesidades de los estudiantes, como un entorno que permita al estudiante sentirse cómodo, de acuerdo a sus intereses y al contexto en el que desenvuelve, para que sean partícipes de su propio aprendizaje

„Künstliche Intelligenz“ und Recht : Neue Herausforderungen und Fragen aus juristischer Sicht

KI durchdringt unseren Alltag auf allen Ebenen. Vom Strafrecht über das Vertrags- und Haftungsrecht, das Bank- und Kapitalmarktrecht, das Immaterialgüterrecht, das Wettbewerbsrecht, das Recht des Staates und seiner Verwaltung, den Umgang mit personenbezogenen Daten oder das Medizinrecht und vielem mehr geht es um die Frage, wie mit KI künftig rechtlich umzugehen ist. Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler an der Juristischen Fakultät forschen und lehren intensiv zu diesen Fragen und geben einen Einblick in ausgewählte Bereiche

Much ado about not-very-much? Assessing ten years of German citizenship reform

This article examines the development and impact of German citizenship policy over the past decade. As its point of departure, it takes the 2000 Citizenship Law, which sought to undertake a full-scale reform and liberalisation of access to German membership. The article discusses this law’s content and subsequent amendments, focusing particularly on its quantitative impact, asking why the number of naturalisations has been lower than originally expected. The article outlines current challenges to the law’s structure operation and identifies potential trajectories for its future development