Law Commons^™

Trial By Trademark: Why The Trademark System Needs To Stand On Its Own Two Marks, Ben Siegel

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

While IP-intensive industries continue to produce a significant portion of the American economy, trademarks consistently remain a substantial portion. Given trademarks’ increasingly pivotal role in the global economy, the complexities and nuances of trademark law demand a specialized approach. In examining the current trademark landscape, many scholars have underscored the paradox of its fractured nature, despite its fundamental role in the economy. Currently, trademark law suffers from a lack of uniformity across the various circuits in critical areas of the law itself, as well as vulnerabilities in forum shopping and confusion for businesses.

Rather than endorsing the conventional approach to …

Antisocial Innovation, Christopher Buccafusco, Samuel N. Weinstein

Georgia Law Review

Innovation is a form of civic religion in the United States. In the popular imagination, innovators are heroic figures. Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs, and (for a while) Elizabeth Holmes were lauded for their vision and drive and seen to embody the American spirit of invention and improvement. For their part, politicians rarely miss a chance to trumpet their vision for boosting innovative activity. Popular and political culture alike treat innovation as an unalloyed good. And the law is deeply committed to fostering innovation, spending billions of dollars a year to make sure society has enough of it. But this sunny …