Carve It All Up: Compumark Report Shows Trademark Registrations, Claims Of Infringement Both Rising Fast
from the ownership-culture dept
As we've talked about for some time, one of the long-tail effects of the increased use of intellectual property in American culture has been the supercharging effect it's had on fomenting a permission culture in general. This effect is compounding, as permission culture breeds IP protectionism, which breeds permission culture. The overall effect this has is to cause far too many people to believe that everything that exists can be owned and controlled.
You can see the effect in action in the uptick of trademark registrations and claims of infringement in a recent survey result from Compumark.
85% of brands experienced trademark infringement in the past year, showing a steady upward trend from 81% in 2018 and 74% in 2017. This is according to the latest research from CompuMark, the industry leader in trademark research and protection, and a Clarivate Analytics company.
For those that suffered infringement, consequences were significant, with the top three cited as customer confusion (45%), loss of revenue (38%) and damage to brand reputation (37%). Three quarters of trademark infringements also led to litigation, with 40% of organizations spending between $50,000 – $249,999 on legal proceedings. In addition, 46% of respondents had to rebrand as a result of infringement, an exercise which can be costly for brands.
With these numbers and the plethora of stories we post here about just how many claims of infringement and trademark disputes are protectionist in nature and often unreasonable, this sure seems like an awful lot of wasted time, money, and bandwidth by the court system for whatever benefit trademark law is currently providing. Are there instances out there of true trademark infringement, where actual customer confusion is a thing and business effects are very much felt? Of course there are. But 85% of brands experiencing trademark infringement? If that number is true, it sure seems to suggest we need to recalibrate what we consider infringement more than anything else.
Disappointing as well were respondents' apparent views that the solution to all that ails us in trademark issues is technology.
Technology was the most cited (49%) way of improving the trademark research and protection process, with artificial intelligence seen as the method of speeding up search, watch and review, as well as in using predictive analytics and automating tasks.
No. For the love of god, no. Supercharging our permission culture's worst aspects by building digital terminators to carry out our paranoia is not the solution. The solution is a more narrowly applied view of trademark rights with a return to the law's original purpose, which is avoiding public confusion as to the source of a good or service.
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"everything that exists can be owned or controlled".
What?
No one in their right minds thinks everything that exists can be owned or controlled. That's just crazy.
Why do you leftists say such crazy things?
I could say this for sure: what you want is the same thing that the Iran Mullahs want - control of everything from health care to religious freedom. You want to banish freedom from the earth, just like the Ayatolla.
Can you see who the Mullahs in Iran like? The liked Obama, especially BIG CASH from Obama. You're all fine with that, right? Tax dolllars for one of the most intollerant and oppressive regimes on earth. No complaints from the left about that. Crooked Bastards.
But what do the Iranian People want? They want FREEDOM from leftist religious fanatical lunatics like you and the Mullahs.
They want Trump and Trumpism. Same in Hong Kong. Same in Taipei.
Freedom. Freedom of thought. Freedom of Opinion. American Freedom.
And yes, that INCLUDES the right of Americans to OWN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. ITS IN THE CONSTITUTION. GET OVER IT.
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Re:
What the actual fuck are you high on, and have you tried reading your opening and closing statements together?
Sure, people can own things. Trademark is a thing, but claims of infringement at the rates described are not remotely believable. And do you know who those claims are against? That's right, other people who own trade dress IP. Derp. Which, mind you, is merely a distinguishing characteristic, it isn't IP like copyright or patents, it's a different animal.
It's an absolute hoot to watch hosers like you rant. You will bang on about anyones claims of infringement while knowing nothing about parties involved, always siding with the first to claim. Almost all the parties are businesses. They all own stuff. It's not some secret underground cabal doing ... i have no idea what you imagine... with another party's trademark. Which capitalists owning stuff do you side with? The ones who whine. Good job.
Also, calling everyone here "leftists" describes more about you than it does anyone here. Also a good job.
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Your tears are delicious. (C) copyright 2020 by Jhon Smith All Rights Reserved
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Re: Re: Re:
Personally I like how you've gone on from mailing list conspiracies and press releases to the equivalent of having violent diarrhea episodes all over a site you claim nobody reads, and one that your hero Shiva Ayyadurai failed to kill at that despite superior monetary resources.
How's that Malibu Media defense fund coming along, bro? It takes some special copyright powers for a copyright holder to be sued by two of their lawyers and one major investor. Demonstrating the holy power of intellectual property! Even your trusted enforcer Mary Schulz is desperately trying to jump off the sinking ship. Guess that's what happens when your copyright enforcement strategy involves calling the judge an asshole in his own courtroom! Long live copyright! Hail Prenda Law! Bahahahahahaha!
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Re: Re: Re: Re:
You are an obvious troll.
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If that's what you believe the Iranian people want, I'm prepared to pay you for an airline-ticket so you can fly there confer with them in person...
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Re: Re:
I saw it on Tucker Carlson.
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Re:
“leftist religious fanatical lunatics like you and the Mullahs”
If cognitive dissonance were a physical force we’d be able to measure the gravatonic waveforms from the other side of the galaxy.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
And for 3 IP addresses you are terrible at hiding your identity. But go ahead, launch another hate-filled tirade like the time you did when Richard Liebowitz cost his copyright holder plaintiff a ton of money.
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Re: Re:
Is that a trekie thing?
Does it mean “I am uneducated so I make up stupid shit about gravity” instead of anything related to the subject at issue?
Are you a committed leftist?
Do you watch MSNBC?
I’ll bet dollars to donuts that you are not a conservative.
Conservatives tend to be silent about things they know nothing about.
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Re: Re: Re:
How's that Shiva Ayyadurai election fund coming along, Hamilton?
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And you are a crappy troll.
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Re: Dial it back there, Skippy
Your comment that "No one in their right minds thinks everything that exists can be owned or controlled" is, in your own words "saying crazy things"
The ENTIRE quote that Tim printed was "The overall effect this has is to cause far too many people to believe that everything that exists can be owned and controlled."
I agree with Tim's assertion. By your statement, Tim would only have to find ONE person who believes that everything can be owned or controlled. That is far easier to prove than your claim that no one believes that.
Tim didn't make any claims about specific numbers, so there is nothing inherently wrong with saying that the continuous bullshit going on within the trademark infringement arena is causing more people to hold an opinion.
Nice knee-jerk reaction, though. Good to know THAT'S all it takes to trigger you
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Old and boring. Also lolwut.
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Re: Re: Re:
So you're not a conservative, then?
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Re:
Tell that to people who think... for example...
There are numerous other stupid examples, but I think these ones should be enough for the point to be made.
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The point being .....?
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Re: Learn what words mean
You don't know what words mean -- get a dictionary. And stop using "leftist" as a catch-all insult. It makes you look stupid and ignorant.
Freedom. Freedom of thought. Freedom of Opinion. American Freedom.
We'd have all of that if American notions of "Intellectual property" were got rid of once and for all.
And yes, that INCLUDES the right of Americans to OWN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. ITS IN THE CONSTITUTION. GET OVER IT.
"The Congress shall have Power To... promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;"
There's not one word about intellectual property ownership in there, get over it. Property ownership is permanent unless transferred via sale or gift, etc.
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Re: Re: Re:
Conservatives tend to be silent about things they know nothing about.
I do, but many right wing nut jobs are claiming to be conservative and they opine about everything whether they know anything about it or not. Hence anti-vaxxers, conspiracy theories, etc.
Unless you're going to call Fox and Breitbart leftist, too.
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The point being that some people definitely acted and sued others with the state of mind that "everything must be owned". So it is crazy, but it's also reality.
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