Trademark Dilution Law: A Cross-Disciplinary Examination Of Dilution And Brand Equity Scholarship
Federal trademark law affords distinctive and famous trademarks protection from “dilution,” which is the whittling away of a trademark’s uniqueness and consequently its selling power. Trademark dilution jurisprudence, as explicated in case law, is unclear with respect to what injury is to be prevented by dilution law, how such injury is operationalized, and how best to balance the interests at stake in a dilution action. With these deficiencies in perspective, this dissertation begins with the question whether a framework for identifying and measuring trademark dilution can be culled from the body of brand equity research. Brand equity, which is generally regarded as the extra or added value embodied in the product’s trademark beyond the value of the product unmarked, is akin to the selling power or commercial magnetism of a famous trademark.