Trademarks and Consumer Search Costs on the Internet

Dogan, Stacey L.; Lemley, Mark A.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.560725

Cited by 11 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…Irrespective of whether the actual origin is known, a consumer understands a trademark as an indication of trade origin, and expects the products associated with a particular trademark to maintain certain qualities to which consumer relates at the time of purchase. By guaranteeing the source and quality of a product, a trademark significantly reduces consumer search costs (Dogan and Lemley, , p. 806). Therefore, it is clear that the most crucial function of trademarks relate to the time of purchase, and not after.…”

Section: A Possible Compromisementioning

confidence: 99%

The TRIPs Compatibility of Australia's Tobacco Plain Packaging Legislation

Marsoof

2013

World Intellectual Property

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The use of tobacco entails negative health consequences. In fact, it is reported that had the ill effects of tobacco been known much earlier in time, tobacco would have been a banned substance. Yet, in today's context tobacco has become part of legitimate trade, and the livelihoods in countries that export tobacco heavily depend on trade in tobacco. In the circumstances, could governments intervene on health and public policy grounds and regulate the manner in which tobacco products are marketed and sold? If so, to what extent? These are precisely the questions that fuel the gruelling dual between tobacco companies and health conscious countries, such as Australia that has recently enacted legislation making mandatory the plain packaging of tobacco products from December 2012. The Australian legislative measure, namely the Tobacco Plain Packaging Act 2011 (Cth), is currently under attack in several fronts, including the World Trade Organisation, though recently the Australian High Court upheld the constitutionality of the plain packaging legislation. The purpose of this paper is to approach the question of the legality of government intervention in totally prohibiting the striking elements of tobacco packaging from a purely international trademark law point of view. First, the paper identifies the scope of trademark protection as set out in the Agreement on the Trade Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (“TRIPs”) and then goes on to analyse the Australian plain packaging law in the context of its own trademark legislation. Thence, the paper considers whether the Australian plain packaging legislation complies with the core provisions on trademark protection enshrined in TRIPs, and lastly provides a possible compromise to reconcile the competing interests.

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Section: A Possible Compromisementioning

confidence: 99%

The TRIPs Compatibility of Australia's Tobacco Plain Packaging Legislation

Marsoof

2013

World Intellectual Property

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“…In the United States, this is legally protected under the "initial interest confusion" doctrine, from which trademark dilution is a typical consequence (Pink 2005). Put differently, a consumer's frustration with finding a specific trademark will result in confusion of the search environment because intermediaries have integrated this trademark into their website codes (Dogan and Lemley 2004). In such cases, search engines do not serve as gatekeepers of such illegal acts and almost always ask affected trademark owners to directly contact the website(s) engaging in such practices (Coviello 2008).…”

Section: Legal Issues Of Trademarks In Organic Searchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hotel Trademarks in Organic Search

Beldona

Lin

Chen

2011

Journal of Travel Research

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The importance of the online travel search environment is well documented. In this context, trademarks play an instrumental role in resolving customer confusion in the search environment. An important element of the online search environment is the organic search output that is typically displayed on the left side of the search results screen on major search engines. This study evaluated the organic search listing performance in a U.S.-based search context of hotel trademarks (websites) on three search engines (Google, Yahoo! and MSN [later Bing]) across four countries (United States, United Kingdom, China, and India) over two separate time periods (years 2007 and 2009) for three tiers of lodging operation (economy, midscale, and upscale). Findings indicate that there are significant differences across countries, across lodging tiers and over time periods. The study draws attention for hoteliers to focus on website optimization and trademark control in the online information space.

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“…4 4 Some scholars have however noted that in certain situations trademark can be instrumentally used to reduce the amount of information available, and so to pursue rent‐seeking strategies (Dogan and Lemley, 2004). These practices constitute the ‘dark side’ of trademark and will be discussed below. …”

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confidence: 99%

What's in a Sign ? Trademark Law and Economic Theory

Ramello

2006

Journal of Economic Surveys

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The aim of this paper is to summarize the extant theory as it relates to the economics of trademark, and to give some suggestions for further research with reference to distinct streams of literature. The proposed line of study inevitably looks at the complex relationship between signs and economics.Trademark is a sign introduced to remedy a market failure. It facilitates purchase decisions by indicating the provenance of the goods, so that consumers can identify specific quality attributes deriving from their own, or others', past experience. Trademark holders, on their part, have an incentive to invest in quality because they will be able to reap the benefits in terms of reputation.In other words, trademark law becomes an economic device which, opportunely designed, can produce incentives for maximizing market efficiency. This role must, of course, be recognized, as a vast body of literature has done, with its many positive economic consequences.Nevertheless, trademark appears to have additional economic effects that should be equally recognized: it can determine the promotion of market power and the emergence of rent-seeking behaviours. It gives birth to an idiosyncratic economics of signs where very strong protection tends to be assured, even though the welfare effects are as yet poorly understood. In this domain much remains to be done and the challenge to researchers is open.

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Trademarks and Consumer Search Costs on the Internet

Cited by 11 publications

References 0 publications

The TRIPs Compatibility of Australia's Tobacco Plain Packaging Legislation

The TRIPs Compatibility of Australia's Tobacco Plain Packaging Legislation

Hotel Trademarks in Organic Search

What's in a Sign ? Trademark Law and Economic Theory

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