make sense and track news media stories addressing the company and its brand. This paper responds to this challenge by …,000 news items) have the ability to predict firm performance in terms of brand ratings as well as stock returns …

, namely, brand value of a firm. Using a novel dataset of trademark infringement lawsuits filed in US district courts from 2000 …-2012, this paper analyzes whether shocks to a firm's brand value in the form of public announcements of filings and verdicts of … complaints are higher for plaintiff firms with worse brand rankings and abnormal returns around favorable verdicts for plaintiff …