The communicative aspects of trade marks : a legal, functional and economic analysis. Maniatis, Spyros M The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author For additional information about this publication click this link. http://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/jspui/handle/123456789/1659 Information about this research object was correct at the time of download; we occasionally make corrections to records, please therefore check the published record when citing. For more information contact [email protected] THE COMMUNICATIVE ASPECTS OF TRADE MARKS: A LEGAL, FUNCTIONAL AND ECONOMIC ANALYSIS by SPYROS M. MANIATIS A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Intellectual Property Law Unit Centre for Commercial Law Studies Queen Mary and Westfield College University of London July 1998 Table of Contents Page Acknowledgments .9 Abstract .10 CHAPTER I Introduction .................................................................................................................. 11 1.1. Defining trade marks as communicators and assets.............................................11 1.2. Some trade mark problems...................................................................................12 1.3. The scope and objectives of this thesis ................................................................13 1.4. The tools for evaluating the hypothesis................................................................13 1.5. An outline of the parts..........................................................................................14 CHAPTER II ASynopsis of Trade Mark History.............................................................................16 2.1. Introduction..........................................................................................................16 2.2. Antiquity.............................................................................................................18 2.2.1. The Greeks and the Romans ..........................................................................20 2.2.2. Legal provisions in antiquity .........................................................................22 2.3. The middle ages ..................................................................................................23 2.3.1. Appellations of origin.................................................................................... 25 2.3.2. Marks of craftsmen and artists.......................................................................26 2.3.3. Trade marks and guilds..................................................................................28 2 2.3.4. Legal provisions during the Middle Ages......................................................30 2.4. The modern times.................................................................................................31 2.4.1. United Kingdom.............................................................................................31 2.4.2. United States..................................................................................................34 2.4.3. France.............................................................................................................37 2.5. Conclusion............................................................................................................38 CHAPTER III TradeMarks and the Concept of Property................................................................39 3.1. Preface..................................................................................................................39 3.2. Introduction..........................................................................................................41 3.3. The justification based on labour.........................................................................54 3.3.1. Locke's property theory and the leap to private property..............................54 3.3.2. Two qualifications: "No Waste" and the "Enough" and "as Good" condition.................................................................................................62 3.3.3. The Lockeian labour......................................................................................64 3.3.4. Trade marks as Lockeian "labour".................................................................68 3.3.5. The "Commons" for trade marks...................................................................72 3.3.6. The "Commons" after the appropriation and the two conditions ..................76 3.3.7. Concluding remarks.......................................................................................81 3.4. The justification based on personality..................................................................81 3.4.1. Hegel's Property Theory................................................................................81 3.4.2. Some qualifications on Property....................................................................87 3.4.3. Some Hegelian ways of exercising property rights .......................................90 3.4.4. A clearer view of "Intellectual Property".......................................................92 3.4.5. A more complicated view of trade marks...................................................... 95 3.4.6. The role of the consumer and some concluding remarks...............................99 3.5. Some comments on the justification of property ...............................................100 3 CHAPTER IV TheFunctions of Trade Marks..................................................................................107 4.1. Introduction........................................................................................................107 4.1 .1. Defining the consumer.................................................................................107 4.1.2. An example of a world without trade marks................................................109 4.1.3. Trade marks as conveyors of information....................................................109 4.2. Trade marks: communicators and indicators of origin.......................................112 4.2.1. Codes of communication.............................................................................112 4.2.2. Use of a mark as proof of ownership...........................................................115 4.2.3. Consumption and consumerism...................................................................116 4.2.4. Trade marks as code of communication ......................................................120 4.2.5. Trade marks as indicators of origin..............................................................122 4.2.6. Why concrete origin is important.................................................................124 4.3. Trade marks: indicators of quality .....................................................................131 4.3.1. Product differentiation.................................................................................131 4.3.2. Consumer motivation...................................................................................134 4.3.3. Abstract origin and brand loyalty.................................................................141 4.3.4. Trade marks as guarantees of quality...........................................................146 4.4. Trade marks: advertising symbols......................................................................153 4.4.1. Trade marks and advertising........................................................................153 4.4.2. Communication and the symbolic value of branded goods.........................158 4.4.3. Advertising, information, persuasion and trade marks ................................167 4.5. The expansion of trade marks ............................................................................169 4.5.1. Trade marks and other rights .......................................................................169 4.5.2. Trade marks as assets...................................................................................174 4.6. Conclusion - A perfect trade mark tale ..............................................................178 4 CHAPTER V Competitionand the Economics of Trade Marks....................................................180 5.1. Preface................................................................................................................180 5.2. Introduction........................................................................................................181 5.3. Laying the ground for trade marks and competition..........................................182 5.3.1. The game players.........................................................................................182 5.3.2. The market interaction.................................................................................183 5.3.3. The basics of market rational behaviour......................................................185 5.4. The relation of basics with trade marks..............................................................186 5.4.1. Trade marks and the organisation of the markets ........................................186 5.4.2. The economics of information.....................................................................187 5.4.3. Trade marks and the orthodoxy of competition...........................................192 5.4.4. An inherent weakness of economics............................................................193