The Copyright/Trademark Interface – How the Expansion of Trademark Protection is Stifling Cultural Creativity
Martin Senftleben
March 19, 2021 | 10:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)Ìý| 15:00 UTCÌý
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The Copyright/Trademark Interface analyzes the clash between culture and commerce, and the imbalances caused by protection overlaps arising from cumulative copyright and trademark protection. The book highlights the corrosive effect of indefinitely renewable trademark rights and underscores the necessity to safeguard central preconditions for the proper functioning of the copyright system: the freedom to use pre-existing works as reference points for artistic discourse and as building blocks for new creations. Drawing on aesthetic, sociological, and economic theories that support initiatives to safeguard the autonomy of the literary and artistic domain and support the remix activities of artists, the author suggests sound criteria for identifying signs with cultural significance that should be excluded from trademark registration.Ìý
About the Author:
Martin Senftleben is Professor of Intellectual Property Law and Director, Institute for Information Law (IViR), University of Amsterdam. His activities focus on the reconciliation of private intellectual property rights with competing public interests of a social, cultural, or economic nature. He is a member of the Copyright Advisory Committee of the Dutch State, President of the European Copyright Society (ECS), President of the Trademark Law Institute (TLI), and a member of the Executive Committee of the Association littéraire et artistique internationale (ALAI) and the International Association for the Advancement of Teaching and Research in Intellectual Property Law (ATRIP).