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In 1998 the author, a professional prankster, trademarked the phrase "freedom of expression" to show how the expression of ideas was being restricted. Now he uses intellectual property law as the focal point to show how economic concerns are seriously eroding creativity and free speech.
When a mark acquires a reputation, it becomes a means of attracting consumers by communicating to them various messages going beyond the indication of commercial origin of goods or services. Thus, trade marks familiar to the general public enjoy a special legal protection regime above and beyond that afforded trade marks in general, allowing them to benefit from enhanced protection against reproduction or imitation detrimental to, or taking unfair advantage of, the distinctive character of the mark or its repute. This richly researched book, the first comprehensive guide to current European Union (EU) law and practice concerned with reputed trade marks, conducts an in-depth analysis of this extended protection provided by Regulation 2017/1001 on EU trade marks and Directive 2015/2436 under which it is mandatory across all Member States. Using a practical approach, focused on identifying and analysing the criteria for infringement of trade marks with a reputation in proceedings before civil courts and in administrative proceedings before the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) or national trade mark offices, the author addresses such elements of the special protection regime as the following: prerequisites for infringement of the right to a reputed mark common to all recognised forms of infringement; how to demonstrate each type of infringement of the right to the trade mark with a reputation (blurring, tarnishment and unfair advantage); proof of reputation; distinguishing the concept of well-known trade mark; legitimate versus questionable justifications of the ‘due cause’ exception within the meaning of EU law provisions; use of a disputed sign falling under freedom of expression; identifying the role of likelihood of confusion under the special regime; and how to prove the existence of a link between the signs in dispute. The author pays detailed attention to the case law of the Court of Justice and General Court of the EU, as well as cases before the EUIPO and national courts. He takes into account research from a number of Member States (plus Switzerland), thus widening prior work in the field from its predominant English-language context. With this book practitioners will confidently approach cases before courts, the EUIPO and national EU trade mark offices involving enhanced protection of trade marks with a reputation. In addition, the book will help judges and trade mark offices examiners to interpret the EU provisions and assess claims regarding such reinforced protection. For scholars and students of intellectual property law, this book will prove a cornerstone volume in the field.
Trademark law grants right holders an exclusive right to prevent third parties from using a sign. This can readily be seen as the antithesis of freedom of expression, which arguably includes a right of third parties to non-exclusive use of a sign for a variety of purposes, ranging from informing consumers, to voicing criticism or to artistic expression. Drawing on cultural theory and– which has shown that society is involved in a constant struggle about shaping the meaning of signs (including trademarks) and– this highly original and provocative book contends that trademark law fails to sufficiently differentiate between commercial purpose and the social, political, or cultural meanings carried by one and the same sign. The author shows that the and‘functional approachand’ to justifying trademark rights taken in current jurisprudence and doctrine is deficient, in that it does not take sufficient account of the fact that trademark rights can restrict the freedom of expression of third parties. Specifically, the exercise of rights granted under the European Trademark Regulation and the national trademark rights harmonized by the European Trademark Directive can cause a disproportionate impairment of the freedom of commercial and non-commercial expression of third parties as protected by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The authorand’s in-depth analysis explores such elements as the following: o the economic and ethical rationales of trademark rights; o whether trademark rights under European law can be justified by these rationales; o how freedom of expression can serve as a limitation to trademark rights; o what level of protection such freedom of expression grants to third parties; o the role of trademarks of social, cultural, or political importance in public discourse; o chilling effects on public discourse that can be caused by the exercise of trademark rights; o the interpretation of provisions regulating the grant and revocation of trademark rights in light of freedom of expression; and o the interpretation of the scope of protection and the limitations of trademark rights in light of freedom of expression. In effect, the analysis serves to expand the focus of legislators, courts, and trademark registering authorities from the interests of trademark right holders, who seemingly are granted ever more protection, to the justified interests of third parties. The critical analysis of existing trademark law leads the author to clearly identify the areas of trademark law in which the law needs to be reinterpreted and the areas in which legislative action should be taken, with recommendations for a number of limitations that should aid legislators in drafting concrete amendments. The new insights and imperatives provided by this book are sure to prove useful to both courts interpreting existing provisions of trademark laws and to legislators who are faced with the challenges of drafting new rules or revising existing laws.
European Trade Mark Law provides a coherent and authoritative commentary on both the substantive and procedural aspects of European trade mark law. It presents an integrated picture of the two major trade mark law provisions at EU level: the Community Trade Mark Regulation (CMTR), which provides for the registration and protection of a Europe-wide mark; and the Trade Mark Directive (TMD), which aims to harmonise national trade mark laws. The book's core focus is the Community texts and case law, and it offers a detailed analysis of the CMTD and TMD, as well as practical discussion of the procedure for registering, maintaining, and challenging a trade mark through the European Trade Mark Office and at the national level. It considers how national laws have been successfully harmonised by the TMD, and where they differ significantly from others in their implementation of the Directive. Written by one of the leading trade mark lawyers in Europe, this is an invaluable reference for both academics and practitioners in this complex and rapidly developing area of law.
European Convention on Human Rights – Article 10 – Freedom of expression 1. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. This article shall not prevent States from requiring the licensing of broadcasting, television or cinema enterprises. 2. The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary. In the context of an effective democracy and respect for human rights mentioned in the Preamble to the European Convention on Human Rights, freedom of expression is not only important in its own right, but it also plays a central part in the protection of other rights under the Convention. Without a broad guarantee of the right to freedom of expression protected by independent and impartial courts, there is no free country, there is no democracy. This general proposition is undeniable. This handbook is a practical tool for legal professionals from Council of Europe member states who wish to strengthen their skills in applying the European Convention on Human Rights and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights in their daily work.
The original text of the Constitution grants Congress the power to create a regime of intellectual property protection. The first amendment, however, prohibits Congress from enacting any law that abridges the freedoms of speech and of the press. While many have long noted the tension between these provisions, recent legal and cultural developments have transformed mere tension into conflict. No Law offers a new way to approach these debates. In eloquent and passionate style, Lange and Powell argue that the First Amendment imposes absolute limits upon claims of exclusivity in intellectual property and expression, and strips Congress of the power to restrict personal thought and free expression in the name of intellectual property rights. Though the First Amendment does not repeal the Constitutional intellectual property clause in its entirety, copyright, patent, and trademark law cannot constitutionally license the private commodification of the public domain. The authors claim that while the exclusive rights currently reflected in intellectual property are not in truth needed to encourage intellectual productivity, they develop a compelling solution for how Congress, even within the limits imposed by an absolute First Amendment, can still regulate incentives for intellectual creations. Those interested in the impact copyright doctrines have on freedom of expression in the U.S. and the theoretical and practical aspects of intellectual property law will want to take a closer look at this bracing, resonant work.
Who controls how one’s identity is used by others? This legal question, centuries old, demands greater scrutiny in the Internet age. Jennifer Rothman uses the right of publicity—a little-known law, often wielded by celebrities—to answer that question, not just for the famous but for everyone. In challenging the conventional story of the right of publicity’s emergence, development, and justifications, Rothman shows how it transformed people into intellectual property, leading to a bizarre world in which you can lose ownership of your own identity. This shift and the right’s subsequent expansion undermine individual liberty and privacy, restrict free speech, and suppress artistic works. The Right of Publicity traces the right’s origins back to the emergence of the right of privacy in the late 1800s. The central impetus for the adoption of privacy laws was to protect people from “wrongful publicity.” This privacy-based protection was not limited to anonymous private citizens but applied to famous actors, athletes, and politicians. Beginning in the 1950s, the right transformed into a fully transferable intellectual property right, generating a host of legal disputes, from control of dead celebrities like Prince, to the use of student athletes’ images by the NCAA, to lawsuits by users of Facebook and victims of revenge porn. The right of publicity has lost its way. Rothman proposes returning the right to its origins and in the process reclaiming privacy for a public world.
Freedom of expression – particularly freedom of speech – is, in most Western liberal democracies, a well accepted and long established, though contested constitutional right or principle. Whilst based in ethical, rights-based and political theories such as those of: justice, the good life, personal autonomy, self determination, and welfare, as well as arrangements over legitimate government, pluralism and its limits, democracy and the extent and role of the state, there is always a lack of agreement over what precisely freedom of expression entails and how it should be applied. For the purposes of this book we are concerned with freedom of expression and the media with regard to the current application of legal standards and self-regulation to journalistic practice.