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Owning Mark(Et)S, Mark A. Lemley, Mark P. Mckenna
Owning Mark(Et)S, Mark A. Lemley, Mark P. Mckenna
Michigan Law Review
Trademark owners regularly rely on claims that the defendant is "free riding" on their mark by making money using that mark, money the trademark owners say should belong to them. We analyze those free-riding claims and find them wanting. The empirical data shows that defendants in unrelated markets can benefit from using a well-known mark, but that neither mark owners nor consumers suffer any injury from that use. A legal claim that a defendant is unjustly benefiting by using a plaintiff's mark is hollow unless it is accompanied by a theory of why that benefit should rightly belong to the …
Trade Marks - Registration - Color As A Common-Law Or Technical Trade Mark, Michigan Law Review
Trade Marks - Registration - Color As A Common-Law Or Technical Trade Mark, Michigan Law Review
Michigan Law Review
Plaintiff had applied for registration of a trade mark for a cleaning powder consisting of a rectangular yellow panel, bounded by a contrasting blue border, affixed to the container of the goods. The mark was accompanied by two other trade marks and by certain descriptive material impressed on the body of the mark within the blue border, for which trade marks and descriptive matter registration was not sought. The Commissioner refused to register the mark on the ground that it would not indicate the origin or ownership of the goods, and on the further ground that it would be regarded …