Magical Thinking in Trademark Law

2012 ◽  
Vol 37 (03) ◽  
pp. 595-626 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katya Assaf
Keyword(s):  
Magical Thinking ◽  
Trademark Law ◽  
Consumer Confusion ◽  
Sacred Objects

People in all societies have a tendency toward magical thinking. This human inclination is extensively exploited by modern advertising, which routinely suggests that consuming goods will make us successful, happy, and fulfilled. In this article, I suggest that such advertising creates a system of beliefs resembling a totemic religion. In this religion, brands perform the role of sacred objects. Trademark law initially aims at preventing consumer confusion. Yet, today, famous trademarks are extensively protected against nonconfusing associations. I argue in this article that this broad protection is based on magical thinking. Pointing out the parallels between the laws of magic and trademark doctrines, such as the doctrine of dilution, I suggest that famous marks are legally treated as magical, sacred objects. This legal approach amounts to endorsing the commercial religion of brands.

scholarly journals Just When U Thought it was All Over, Gator's Kin Pops Up and Slides Out of Dangerous IP Waters (for the Most Part): A Review of Two Online Pop-Up Advertisers and 4 Internet Law Decisions

2004 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Allen Cody
Keyword(s):  
Online Advertising ◽  
Copyright Law ◽  
Trademark Law ◽  
Internet Users ◽  
Consumer Confusion ◽  
Legal Implications ◽  
Preliminary Injunction ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
Internet Law

This Article follows on the heels of an article I recently wrote that focuses on the online advertising activities of The Gator Corporation and legal implications of the preliminary injunction issued in that case.4 I previously concluded that Gator’s pop-up advertising scheme did not violate copyright law,5 but that it did violate trademark law, based in large on survey results showing significant consumer confusion at that point in time.6 To remove consumer confusion, I recommended that Gator: (1) notify Internet users more prominently about downloading Gator software; (2) remind consumers that they authorized pop-up ads to appear; (3) adequately display its trademarks in its pop-up ads; and (4) disclaim affiliation with URLs that have not authorized its ads.7

“Not Manufactured or Authorized by …”: Recent Federal Cases Involving Trademark Disclaimers

1998 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Jacoby ◽  
Maureen Morrin
Keyword(s):  
Trademark Law ◽  
Trademark Infringement ◽  
Consumer Confusion ◽  
Recent Trends

After discussing the value of trademarks to consumers and businesses, the authors outline the major objectives of trademark law. The authors review recent federal trademark infringement cases that involve the use of disclaimers, in terms of the extent to which disclaimers reduce the likelihood of consumer confusion. The authors then note recent trends and provide suggestions for further research.

Chcą nas zmienić w reliefy i rzeźby...

2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (0) ◽  
pp. 23-33
Author(s):  
Patrycja Cembrzyńska
Keyword(s):  
Critical Reflection ◽  
War Memorials ◽  
National Tradition ◽  
National Memory ◽  
Sacred Objects ◽  
Visual Artist

They Want to Change Us into Reliefs and Sculptures... This article discusses a role of war memorials in popularizing militarism, war bravery and the idea of dying for the homeland. Following Krzysztof Varga (a writer) and Krzysztof Wodiczko (a visual artist), the monumental structures of national memory become here a subject of critical reflection. They both show the deadly hypnotizing power of memorials over people. To this end, they create an oneiric reality, in which the sacred objects of national tradition come to life and “vampirize” the would-be patriots. The task of the hypnotic and critical style of interpreting memorials is, as it is proved, “to demilitarize” (“disarm”) our culture.

The role of magical thinking in hallucinations. Comparisons of clinical and non-clinical groups

2014 ◽  
Vol 68 (8) ◽  
pp. 605-610 ◽  
Author(s):  
José M. García-Montes ◽  
Marino Pérez-Álvarez ◽  
Paula Odriozola-González ◽  
Oscar Vallina-Fernández ◽  
Salvador Perona-Garcelán
Keyword(s):  
Magical Thinking

scholarly journals COMFORTING COMMUNICATION NEAR THE SACRED OBJECTS OF KYIV PECHERSK LAVRA (THE 19TH – THE EARLY 20TH C.)

2017 ◽  
pp. 19-23
Author(s):  
A. Kizlova
Keyword(s):  
Sacred Space ◽  
Physical Contact ◽  
Reliability Engineering ◽  
Sacred Objects ◽  
Comforting Communication ◽  
Special Priority

The article deals with the problem of comforting communication for minds and bodies in the sacred space of Kyiv Pechersk lavra (19th – early 20th c.). We investigate the role of the providing comfort in the conventual ideas and praxises and consider the attempts to improve prayers' physical contact with the sanctuaries. To achieve this goal we start with the analysis the Lavra administration preconceptions of the interest's native to stranger prayers and to sacred objects custodians. We also explore the level of operational comfort provided for the coffin-guardians and the cave guids. A special priority is accorded to the caves-going conditions. The features of the communicatively related disciplinary instructions for brethren (ideals and reality) are traced. As we have found out, the communicative comfort near Lavra sacred objects was important in the context of reliability engineering. The sacred objects keepers were able to forestall crowding, injuries or fire near shrines and icons. Increasing of the pilgrimage and incremental load for brethren promoted betterment work in the cloister. The problem of thefts in the Near and the Far caves as well as in all Lavra seems to be a promising topic for the further studies.

“Das es dasselb puch sey:” The Book as Protagonist in the Ceremony of the Jewry-oath

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-102
Author(s):  
Ilona Steimann
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Object A ◽  
Sacred Objects

Abstract This article focuses on the requisite sacred objects utilized in the ceremony of the Jewry-oath in Christian Europe. The objects, upon which Jewry-oaths were taken, were crucial for the oaths’ validity, but their nature and materiality remained invisible in the relevant primary sources. On the basis of the only extant example of such an object, a Hebrew Pentateuch that survived together with a recently-discovered fifteenth-century Nuremberg Jewry-oath, the article addresses Jewish and Christian conceptions of the sacredness of material entities, and elucidates how these conceptions impinged upon the role of the objects in the oath-taking ceremony.

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