Prior to decisions by the Supreme Court of the United States in eBay, Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C. and Winter v. NRDC, appellate courts routinely affirmed the exercise of discretion by district courts to grant injunctive relief in trademark cases. Indeed, if trademark owners made out a prima...

The consequences of trademark infringements can be severe, ranging from customer confusion to undesirable associations, from mark erosion to loss of revenues and complex litigations. Further, infringement can pose significant public health and safety, and cybersecurity risks, as these...

A key precept of brand extension theory is that brand extension, as opposed to new brand, reduces the risk of new product trial in experience goods categories. In this paper we argue that this property has specific testable implications for the dynamics of sales. In particular, in the movie...

This paper demonstrates that radical regulatory changes can be tantamount to technological revolutions by studying Indian pharmaceutical firms. It shows that radical regulatory changes such as the Indian Patent Act of 1970, the New Industrial Policy of 1991 and the signing of TRIPS (Trade...

Scholars often complain that sellers use trademarks to manipulate consumer perception. This manipulation ostensibly harms consumers by limiting their ability to make informed choices. For example, holding other things constant, consumers spend more money on goods with a high-performance...

This Article considers the spillover effects of trademarks - in particular, brand spillovers, which occur when consumer interest in a trademark increases the profits of third parties who do not own the trademark. Using techniques such as loss leaders and shelf space adjacency, retailers...

This paper analyzes the effects of patents and trademarks in the financing of start-ups through venture capitalists (VCs). Patents and trademarks signal a start-up’s technological and marketing capabilities. We find that patents and trademarks not only have direct effects on venture capital...

In the early 90's, I wrote two articles examining the expansion of trademark law from its core focus on confusion about marketing signals, to cover such matters as dilution, implications of sponsorship, and rights of publicity. I argued that these developments were putting increasing pressure on...

When Donald Trump descended the escalator of Trump Tower to announce his 2016 presidential bid, Neil Young’s song “Rockin’ in the Free World” blared from the loudspeakers. Almost immediately, Young’s management made clear that the campaign’s use of the song was unauthorized. Neil...

Trademark law protects famous marks from dilution by tarnishment, defined by statute as use likely to “harm the reputation of the famous mark.” Tarnishing uses are typically those that connect a mark with disreputable goods or topics, like sex or drugs. Mark owners ostensibly worry that...