Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook of International and Comparative Trademark Law
- The Cambridge Handbook of International and Comparative Trademark Law
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Editors and Contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Part One International Aspects of Trademark Protection
- Part Two Comparative Perspectives on Trademark Protection
- I The Nature and Functions of Trademarks
- 9 Trademark Functions in European Union Law
- 10 The Function of Trademarks in the United States
- II Signs That Can Be Protected as Trademarks
- III Public Policy Limitations of Trademark Subject Matter
- IV The Relationship between Trademarks and Geographical Indications
- V Certification and Collective Marks
- VI The Relationship between Trademark Law and Advertising Law
- VII The Relationship between Trademark Law and the Right of Publicity
- VIII Trademarks and Domain Names
- IX Overlapping Rights
- X Theories Underlying the Standards for Trademark Infringement
- XI Trademark Dilution
- XII Secondary Trademark Liability
- XIII Trademark Defenses
- XIV The Principle of Exhaustion of Trademark Rights
- XV Trademark Transactions
- Index
10 - The Function of Trademarks in the United States
from I - The Nature and Functions of Trademarks
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 September 2020
- The Cambridge Handbook of International and Comparative Trademark Law
- The Cambridge Handbook of International and Comparative Trademark Law
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Editors and Contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Part One International Aspects of Trademark Protection
- Part Two Comparative Perspectives on Trademark Protection
- I The Nature and Functions of Trademarks
- 9 Trademark Functions in European Union Law
- 10 The Function of Trademarks in the United States
- II Signs That Can Be Protected as Trademarks
- III Public Policy Limitations of Trademark Subject Matter
- IV The Relationship between Trademarks and Geographical Indications
- V Certification and Collective Marks
- VI The Relationship between Trademark Law and Advertising Law
- VII The Relationship between Trademark Law and the Right of Publicity
- VIII Trademarks and Domain Names
- IX Overlapping Rights
- X Theories Underlying the Standards for Trademark Infringement
- XI Trademark Dilution
- XII Secondary Trademark Liability
- XIII Trademark Defenses
- XIV The Principle of Exhaustion of Trademark Rights
- XV Trademark Transactions
- Index
Summary
In recent years, as well explained by Annette Kur,1 an assessment of the function of trademarks has become a direct doctrinal mechanism used by courts in the European Union to determine the scope of trademark protection in a number of contexts. In the United States, no equivalent doctrinal mechanism has developed, at least not in those precise terms; US courts do not speak the language of “functions” as the Court of Justice has now done for two decades. However, features of US trademark law have clearly been shaped with a similar awareness of the importance of the functions of marks. In particular, US courts have for over a century referenced the core function of a trademark to identify the source or origin of the product on which it is affixed. And litigants and scholars seeking to expand the scope of protection have sought to emphasize that marks do much more than identify source, often tendering explanations that hint at the advertising and investment functions of marks (without using those terms).
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020