Trademark and unfair competition conflicts : historical-comparative, doctrinal, and economic perspectives / Tim W. Dornis.

With the rise of internet marketing and e-commerce around the world, international and cross-border conflicts in trademark and unfair competition law have become increasingly important. In this groundbreaking work, Tim Dornis - who, in addition to his scholarly pursuits, has worked as an attorney, a public prosecutor, and a judge, giving him experience in both civil and common-law jurisdictions - presents the historical-comparative, doctrinal, and economic aspects of trademark and unfair competition conflicts law. The book should be read by any scholar or practitioner interested in the international aspects of intellectual property generally, and trademark and unfair competition law specifically. This title is available as Open Access.

Table of Cases

Introduction

1Civil Law History—Germany and Europe

Introduction

1Substantive Trademark and Unfair Competition Law

IStructure: State Regulation and Formal Privileges

AThe Criminal Law Beginnings

BFrom State Regulation to Individual Rights Protection

CThe Positivist Concept of Privilege Grants

IISubstance: Personality Rights and Private Property

AJosef Kohler’s Personality Rights Theory

BThe Statutory Introduction of Private Rights Protection

IIIConsequences: The Field’s Dichotomies

AThe Trademark/Unfair Competition Dichotomy

BThe Privilege/Personality Right Dichotomy

IVThe Twentieth Century: A Triumph of Separatism

AReichsgericht Sansibar and Pecose: A Shaky Hierarchy of Policies

BEugen Ulmer: An Almost Reconciliation

CEurope: Rights Formalism and Individualization

DThe Final Blow: Propertization vs. Socialization

2Trademark and Unfair Competition Choice of Law

IFrom Universality to Territoriality

AThe Worldwide Scope of Personality Rights

BAlfred Hagens and the Territoriality of Trademarks

CUnder the Surface: Fairness-Standard Universality

IIFrom International Torts to International Economic Law?

AFrom Lex Loci Delicti Commissi to Nussbaum’s Rule

BA Silver Lining: The Kindersaugflaschen Doctrine

CTwenty-First Century: A Merger of Conflict Rules?

Conclusions

2Common Law History—United States

Introduction

1Substantive Trademark and Unfair Competition Law

IThe Early Straightjacket: Equity, Passing Off, and Universality

ATrademark Protection in the Distorting Mirror of Law and Equity

BPassing Off: “The Whole Law and the Prophets on the Subject”

CKidd/Derringer: Trademark Universality “US Style”

IIThe Right/Markets Connex: Materialization, Goodwill, and Trade Diversion

AThe Materialization of Trademark Rights

BThe Reverse Picture: Trade-Diversion Prevention

CTea Rose/Rectanus: The Doctrine of Market-Based Rights

IIIThe Realist Attack: Much Ado about … Quite Little

AThe Turn-of-the-Century Crisis

BCourts’ Adherence to “Transcendental Nonsense”

CFrank I. Schechter: The Victory of Goodwill

IVModern Theory and Practice: Economic Analysis and Repropertization

AThe 1946 Lanham Act: Monopoly Phobia Well Cured

BThe Economization of US Trademark Law

CModern Propertization and Repropertization

2Interstate Trademark and Unfair Competition Law

IThe “Market Universality” of Trademark Rights

AA. Bourjois & Co. v. Katzel: The One-Way Street of Trademark Extension

BTea Rose/Rectanus: The Doctrine of Nonterritorial Rights

CHolmes Concurring: A “Passive Figurehead” of State Sovereignty

IIThe Federal Common Law of Trademarks and the Erie Doctrine

AThe Traditional Hodgepodge of State and Federal Common Law

BThe Erie Impact: The “Passive Figurehead” of State Sovereignty Reloaded

IIIThe 1946 Lanham Act: An Innovation of Almost Territorial Rights

AThe Common Law Foundation of Federal Statutory Rights

BScholarly Distortions: A Mirage of “Territorial Extraterritoriality”

IVSummary: Nonformalism and the Nonterritoriality of Trademarks

3International Trademark and Unfair Competition Law

IThe Porosity of National Borders and International Goodwill Theory

AThe Well-Known Marks Doctrine: Transnational Goodwill Misappropriation

BRudolf Callmann: A Theory of International Unitary Goodwill

IITrademarks’ Extraterritorial Scope: Steele v. Bulova Watch Co. and Its Progeny

AThe Epicenter of Extraterritoriality: Steele v. Bulova Watch Co.

BThe Steele Progeny: A Motley Crew of Circuit Court Tests

IIIDoctrinal Analysis: Use-Based Rights and Commercial Effects

AThe Common Law Roots of Lanham Act Subject-Matter Jurisdiction

BAn Element of Modernity: The Effects-on-Commerce Factor

IVA Bird’s-Eye View: Taking Stock of Lanham Act Extraterritoriality

AThe Antitrust Gene: A Dominance of Effects

BCommon Law Goodwill Protection: Tea Rose/Rectanus Goes Global

VSummary: An Era of International Trademark Propertization

Conclusions

3A Ragged Landscape of Theories

Introduction

1Traditional Civil Law Trademark Conflicts

IThe Principle of Territoriality

IIAnalysis: The Curse of Formal Reasoning and Conduct Orientation

2Modern Civil Law Unfair Competition Conflicts

IThe Marketplace Principle, Determination of Effects, and the De Minimis Rule

ACollision-of-Interests and Substantive-Purpose Analysis

BMultistate Scenarios: Determination of Marketplace Effects and De Minimis Limitations

IIAnalysis: The Obsolescence of Tort Foundations

3The New Paradigm—A Law of Market Regulation

IAntitrust Conflicts Reloaded: The Effects Principle

IIAnalysis: The Unboundedness of Unqualified Effects

4Modern Soft Law—WIPO Recommendation, ALI Principles, and Others

INonbinding Suggestions of Substantive Law and Conflicts Resolution

AThe Joint Recommendation Concerning Provisions on the Protection of Marks, and Other Industrial Property Rights in Signs, on the Internet

BALI Principles, CLIP Principles, and the Japanese Transparency Proposal

IIAnalysis: “Chips off the Old Block”

AThe Joint Recommendation

BALI Principles, CLIP Principles, and the Japanese Transparency Proposal

5The American Scholarly Debate

ICommon Law Tradition and Transnational Market Protection

AThe General Tendency of Equitable Rights Limitlessness

BThe Nintendo Transformation: From Act-of-State-Doctrine to Substantive Dichotomy

CThe Revival of Territoriality: A Quasi Continental Choice-of-Law Approach

DThe “Domestic Extraterritoriality” of Statutory Trademark Rights

ETea Rose/Rectanus “Transnationalized”: The Common Law Cross-Border Crusade

FThe Shift to Effects Testing: An Idea of Transnational Market Regulation

IIAnalysis: Common Law Tradition Meets Extraterritorial Market Regulation

6Substantivism and Transnational Uniform Law

IOverview

AFoundations

BModern Concepts of Substantivism in Intellectual Property Law

CNonterritorial Concepts: “Cyberlaw” and the “Collision of Rights”

IIAnalysis: The Fata Morgana of Universal Policy

7The Rediscovery of International Comity

IThe Comitas Approach

IIAnalysis: A “Quadrature of the Circle”

Conclusions

4Substantive Policy—Convergent Foundations

Introduction

1Foundations—The Market Mechanism

IThe Concept of “Economic Competition”

AThe Legal Framework

BThe Rediscovery of Chaos

CThe Dynamics of Competition

1A Tradition of Competitor Protection

2The Advent of (Consumer) Decision Making

3The Complementary Spheres of Transactional Freedom

IIThe “Triangular” Structure of the Market Mechanism

IIIThe Stages of Consumer Decision Making and Transacting

AInformation Transmission

BInformation Processing

CImplementation of the Consumer’s Decision

DCaveat: Limitations of Consumer Decision Making

IVSummary

2Implementation—Substantive Law

ITort and Unfair Competition Law

AThe Mirage of Practical and Formal Differences

BThe Relativity of Protection Levels

1Early Starting Point: Claims “against the World at Large”

2United States: From Property to Policy and Back Again

3Germany: The Eternal Dichotomy of Rights and Competition

CThe Heterogeneity of Policies: Vertical and Horizontal Competition

1Two Types of Unfair Competition Cases and Regulatory Policies

2Clarification: The Horizontality of Neminem Laedere

DSummary

IIAntitrust and Unfair Competition Law

IIIThe Intellectual Property Dichotomy: Innovation vs. Competition

AThe Mistaken Concept of Intellectual Property Uniformity

1Historical Remnants: The “Immaterialization” of Trademarks

2Current Doctrine: Intellectual Property Homogeneity

BRectification: A Grounded Intangibility of Trademarks

1The Difference in Intellectual Property Incentive Structures

2An Apparent Exception: The Trademark Register

CSummary

IVTrademark and Unfair Competition Law: Framing the Information Infrastructure

AThe Illusion of a Formal Divergence

1Recapitulation: Trademark Property vs. Consumer Protection

2Cracks in the Foundation: A Remerger of the Fields

(a)The Statutory Framework: Unfair Commercial Practices Directive

(b)The Consolidation of Interests: Depropertization and Desocialization

(c)The Practical Picture: A Subtle Recapture

(d)The Relicts of Antiquity: Pockets of Resistance

(e)The Myth of the Public Samaritan

3Summary

BThe Structural Congruency of Trademark and Unfair Competition Law

1The Common Core: Information Economization

2Beyond Confusion: Alternative Theories of Trademark Protection

3Two Sides of the Coin: Law and Equity in Market Communication

CSummary

3Application—Functional Structures in Trademark and Unfair Competition Doctrine

ITrademark Protection

ANavigation Goodwill: Confusion-Based Infringement Theory

BSurplus Goodwill: Non-Confusion-Based and Time-Shifted Infringement Theories

1Antidilution Doctrine

2Temporal Extensions of Goodwill Protection

(a)Postsale Confusion

(b)Initial-Interest Confusion

3The Common Denominator

IIUnfair Competition Prevention

ARecapitulation: Stages of Decision Making and Policy Differences

BAn Integrated Model of Unfair Competition Law (Including Passing Off)

CAn Amalgam of Policies: Harassment, Privacy, and Decision Making

DBeware of the Consumer’s “Economic Personality Right”

EQuasi IP Rights: The Gray Zone of Product Imitation

FThe Continental Dark Horse: Breach of Statutory Duties as Unfair Competition

IIIA Hybrid Category: Geographical Indications

Conclusions

5International Comity—A Doctrine of Self-Restraint

Introduction

1From Comitas Gentium to Transnational Law

IThe Status Quo: A Publicization of Private International Law

AThe (Non)Historical Dichotomy: Private and Public International Law

BThe Duality of Methods

CA Blurring of Boundaries

IIIn the Shadows: The Creeping Deformation of Comity

ATransnationalization: A Resurrection of the Ius Cosmopoliticum

BThe Historical Leitmotif: Convenience of International Transacting

1Joseph Story: The Consensual Administration of Conflicts

2Friedrich Carl von Savigny: A Legal Community In Statu Nascendi

3Ernst Zitelmann: The Weltrecht of Uniform Policy

4Summary

CThe Modernity of Transnational Law: An Apotheosis of Substantive Uniformity

1Philip C. Jessup: The Hybridity and Universality of Transnational Law

2Twentieth Century: Conflicts Doctrine Internationalized

(a)Maritime Internationalism: The Lauritzen Doctrine

(b)Savigny Diluted: A Theory of Separate Attachment

(c)Public International Law Osmosis: The Ordre Public International

3Turn of the Century: The Unearthly Detachment of Transnationalization

(a)The Odyssey of Interest Analysis: Currie’s Game-Theoretical Return to Savigny

(b)Law and Economics: The Super-Value of Welfare Maximization

(c)Global Legal Pluralism: Fragmentation, Functionality, and Universality

IIISummary

2Transnationalization Exhausted

IInternational Antitrust: A History of Effects, Public International Law, and Comity

ALotus Isolationism: A Lacuna of Nation-State Sovereignty

BGeneral Principles: The Droit Idéal of Public International Law

CThe Practical Proxy: Interest Balancing

1Theoretical Approaches

2The Practice: Timberlane and Mannington Mills

3The Rule of Reason

DThe Effects Principle: From Unboundedness to Self-Restraint

1Europe: A Theory of Public International Law Limitations

2Alcoa to Hartford Fire: From Unlimited to Substantial Effects

3Empagran: The About-Face toward Comity

4The Empagran Critique: Capitulation, Isolationism, and Imperialism

5The Comity of Self-Defense: Ostracizing the Private Attorney General

ESummary

IIThe Zenith of Transnationalization: A Story of Alien Tort Statute Contraction

AThe “Legal Lohengrin”: From Comity to Settled International Law

BThe Sosa Transnationalization: Hybridity, Universality, and Specificity

CPandora’s Box: Politics and Economics

DKiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co.: The Swan Song of Transnationalization?

IIISummary

3The Shadowy Existence of Trademark and Unfair Competition Conflicts

IThe Mirage of Extraterritorial Enforcement Efficiency

IIThe Reality of International Trademark Rights Protection

AInternational Intellectual Property Rights Segmentation

BThe International Vacuum of Nation-State Capacities

CTrademark Extraterritoriality: Individual Propertization and Overall Taxation

IIISummary

Conclusions

6Reconceptualization, Reinterpretation, and Typology

Introduction

1The New Conflicts Resolution Structure

ITrademark/Unfair Competition Uniformity: Core Policies

IIQuality of Effects: A Rule of Alternatives

IIIQuantity of Effects: Jurisdictional Self-Restraint

AA Word in Advance: Practical Relativity

BObjective Foreseeability

1Party Expectations and the International Private Law Order

2Technique and Factors of Market Analysis

3Clarification: Defendant’s Intent and Actual Effects

CInternational Comity

1Current De Minimis Standards

(a)The Paradigm of “Shields” and “Swords”

(b)Analysis: An Ad Hoc Rule of “International-Individual Equity”

2Reconceptualization

(a)Structural Underpinning and Relevant Interests

(b)Practical Rules and Presumptions

(i)Starting Point: Fact-Based Crafting of Remedies

(ii)Prima Facie “Effects Sufficiency”: Defendant’s Intent

(iii)Caveat: “Effects Unavoidability”

IVSummary

2The Reinterpretation of Steele and Rome II

IUS Lanham Act Subject-Matter Jurisdiction

AModification: A Qualitative Reformulation of “Effects on US Commerce”

BReinterpretation: Dusting Off “Nationality” and “Conflicts with Foreign Law”

1Nationality, Citizenship, and What Else—or Nothing at All?

2Conflicts with Foreign Law: Another Shell of Formalities

3A New Paradigm

(a)The Neutralization of Nationality and Citizenship

(b)The Deformalization and Depropertization of “Conflicts with Foreign Law”

IIEuropean Trademark and Unfair Competition Choice of Law

AClarification: Characterization of Trademark and Unfair Competition Conflicts

BFoundation: Marketplace Effects Rule and the Lex Loci Protectionis

CApplication: Marketplace Effects and the Gran Canaria Conundrum

1Recapitulation: The Gran Canaria Scenario

2Problem: Economic Concepts and Legal Terminology

3Analysis: The Chronology of Consumer Decision Making

4Implementation: Alternative Transactions and the Merger of Markets

5Conclusion

3The Typology of Trademark and Unfair Competition Conflicts

IConsumer Decision Making: Protecting the Market Information Infrastructure

AThe Common Core of Trademark and Unfair Competition Policies

1Advertising Communication: A General “Rule of Alternatives”

2No Exceptions: Trademarks, Trade Names, Geographical Indications, and Designations of Origin

BImplementation of Decision-Making Results: Transacting

1The Core Policy

2Policies Beyond

IITheories of Misappropriation and Other Impact on Competition

AModern Extensions of Trademark-Infringement Theory

BProduct Imitation

CThe Antitrust Concurrence

DBreach of Statutory Duties as Unfair Competition

IIICompetitor-Related and Bilateral Commercial Torts

Appendix A

Appendix B

Bibliography

Index

"Both in Europe and the United States, a socioeconomic cataclysm of industrialization and market liberalization-including the invention of branding, mass advertising, and marketing psychology-was the driving force behind the construction of modern trademark and unfair competition laws. During the last two centuries, legal doctrine accordingly underwent partly groundbreaking transformations. Many of these account for today's transatlantic dichotomy, particularly in the field of trademark and unfair competition choice of law, or conflicts law. My analysis will focus on the most relevant characteristics of legal doctrine between the eighteenth and twenty-first centuries. I argue that a closer look at conceptual and structural differences, as well as commonalities between European and US law, provides the basis for a reconceptualization of the field"--