Techdirt Podcast Episode 47: Trademarks: Intellectual Property Or Consumer Protection?

from the one-of-these-things-is-not-like-the-others dept

Trademark law often gets lumped in with patents and copyright under the "intellectual property" banner, but in fact it's a different kind of law with an entirely different heritage. That said, it's not without its dangers, so this week we're discussing the intent and extent of trademark law and its impacts both positive and negative.

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Filed Under: podcast, trademark


Reader Comments

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  • identicon
    Michael, 20 Oct 2015 @ 1:00pm

    It's neither.

    It is a speech suppression tool.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Black Art (profile), 20 Oct 2015 @ 2:36pm

    Trademarks

    "Trademarks are the heraldry of the new feudalism."

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    OGquaker (profile), 20 Oct 2015 @ 2:37pm

    Wrong, Wrong, Wronnnnng

    I have a 60 pound 'Robot Secretary', branded FORD from 1960. See telephone answering machine, circa 1982, Ford Industries, Inc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC8ynendbv0

    BUT ALL Trademarks are DEFINED by the narrow product field you persist in occupying. Stop filling that space, OR attempt to move into another field, YOU MUST TRY TO GET NEW TRADEMARK

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Frustrated Listener, 21 Oct 2015 @ 11:02am

    A painful listen

    This is close to unlistenable. Before the conversation begins you have to weather through over a minute of unrelated ads, the intro and discussion parameters and goals are muddled, the examples and arguments are sophomoric, etc. but the biggest issue is that the participants are constantly talking over each other. It's painful.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Killer_Tofu (profile), 21 Oct 2015 @ 1:53pm

    Monster Cable

    I almost got the impression from these discussions that when it came to Monster cable suing everyone else over the use of the word Monster that Hirsch would actually support that because we don't want possible confusion that somebody might somewhere be confused for a few minutes.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    @b, 29 Dec 2015 @ 8:32pm

    Bait and Switch

    This e-trademark debate trickery turns on when you think the case's marketing Bait and Switch is dishonest.

    Some folks will say all marketing is bs (even a moron in a hurry knows "buyer beware") and others will argue that a b&s might turn out to be permissible when it's, for eg, humorous baiting then softly brand switching. "Yoogle" yogurt is that transparent that it mightn't be dishonest. Not many folks right now would want Google to successfully assert brand damage from that unknown froyo shop down the street.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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