The protection of non-traditional trademarks : critical perspectives / edited by Irene Calboli, Professor, Texas A&M University School of Law; Martin Senftleben, Professor, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Includes bibliographical references and index

Introduction / Irene Calboli and Martin Senftleben -- Making a large universe visually perceptible: the development of non-traditional trademarks in WIPO treaties / Denis Croze -- Non-traditional trademarks: an empirical study / Mitchell Adams and Amanda Scardamaglia -- Paying the price for admission: non-traditional marks across registration and enforcement / Dev S. Gangjee -- Yellow dictionaries, red banking services, some candies, and a sitting bunny: protection of color and shape marks from a German and European perspective / Annette Kur -- Non-traditional trademarks and the dilemma of aesthetic functionality / Justin Hughes -- Should trademark law protect non-traditional trademarks? a look at how marketing practices try to capture essences / Devin Desai -- Absolute bans on the registration of product shape marks: a breach of international law? / Ng-Loy Wee Loon -- What should constitute infringement of a non-traditional mark? the role of "trademark use" / Michael Handler -- Protecting non-traditional trademarks in China: new opportunities and challenges / Haochen Sun -- The protection of (three-dimensional) shape trademarks and its implications for the protection of competition / Gustavo Ghidini -- Non-traditional trademarks: the error costs of making and exception to the rule / Glynn S. Lunney, Jr. -- Assessing the impact of registering non-traditional marks: a European Union competition law analysis / Lavinia Brancusi -- The economics of management of non-traditional trademarks: why, how much, what, and who / Carolina Castaldi -- Non-traditional trademarks in the pharmaceutical sector: non-traditional barriers to access to medicine / Arul George Scaria and Kavya Susan Mammen -- Hands off "my" colors, patterns, and shapes! how non-traditional trademarks promote standardization and may negatively impact creativity and innovations / Irene Calboli -- A clash of culture and commerce: non-traditional marks and the impediment of cyclic cultural innovation / Martin Senftleben -- Non-traditional trademarks and inherently valuable expression / Lisa P. Ramsey -- Non-traditional trademark protection as (non-traditional) means of cultural control / Katya Assaf-Zakharov.

This volume offers a detailed analysis of the issues related to the protection of non-traditional marks. In recent years, the domain of trademark law and the scope of trademark protection has grown exponentially. Today, a wide variety of non-traditional marks, including colour, sound, smell, and shape marks, can be registered in many jurisdictions. However, this expansion of trademark protection has led to heated discussions and controversies about the impact of the protection of non-traditional marks on freedom of competition and, more generally, on socially valuable use of these or similar signs in unrelated non-commercial contexts. These tensions have also led to increasing litigation in this area across several jurisdictions. This book provides an overview of the debate and state of the law surrounding non-traditional marks at the international, regional, and national level. In particular, this book addresses relevant international treaties administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects to Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) as well as several regional and national legislations and leading judicial decisions in order to examine current law and practice culminating in critical reflections and suggestions on the topic. -- Publisher's website.