Advertising and Promotion Management Commons^™

Affixing The Service Mark: Reconsidering The Rise Of An Oxymoron, Peter J. Karol

Law Faculty Scholarship

This article explores the deep and to date unacknowledged contradictions underlying service marks (trademarks used in connection with services rather than goods). Namely, the Lanham Act statutorily mandates treating trademarks the “same” as service marks; yet it simultaneously loosens requirements for proving service mark “use” by allowing mere advertising to substantiate service mark rights. This shortcut is not permitted with trademarks as such. As a result of this imbalance, sophisticated trademark practitioners may now quickly secure vast service mark rights for clients in ways not available for trademarks.

To better understand current service mark practice, and the above contradictions, the …