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Never Tell Me The Odds: How To Avoid Infringement When Alluding To Copyrighted Works In Branding, Paul M. Matenaer

Chicago-Kent Journal of Intellectual Property

Alluding to copyrighted works in branding is common, especially among small businesses that tend to fly under the radar of the large corporations which own those copyrights. The craft beer industry, for example, is fond of such allusions, incorporating references to movies, comic books, and video games in product names and beer labels. Whether to pay homage to the creative genius found in those copyrighted works or to cash in on popular enthusiasm for them, brand allusions to copyrighted works are common. However, such homages to copyrighted works can be as dangerous as flying into an asteroid field because they …