This book contends that, with regard to the likelihood of confusion standard, European trademark law applies the average consumer incoherently and inconsistently. To test this proposal, it presents an analysis of the horizontal and vertical level of harmonization of the average consumer. The horizontal part focuses on similar fictions in areas of law adjacent to European trademark law (and in economics), and the average consumer in unfair competition law. The vertical part focuses on European trademark law, represented mainly by EU trademark law, and the trademark laws of the UK, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. The book provides readers with a better understanding of key aspects of European trademark law (the average consumer applied as part of the likelihood of confusion standard) and combines relevant law and practices with theoretical content and other related areas of law (and economics). Accordingly, it is an asset for policymakers and practitioners, as well as general readers with an interest in intellectual property law and theory.
Author(s): Rasmus Dalgaard Laustsen
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 441
Tags: IT Law, Media Law, Intellectual Property, European Trademark Law
Front Matter ....Pages i-xxi
Front Matter ....Pages 1-1
Background (Rasmus Dalgaard Laustsen)....Pages 3-37
Methodology (Rasmus Dalgaard Laustsen)....Pages 39-64
Legal Sources (Rasmus Dalgaard Laustsen)....Pages 65-92
The Dynamics of the European Trademark Law (Rasmus Dalgaard Laustsen)....Pages 93-123
Front Matter ....Pages 125-125
The Average Consumer as a Legal Fiction and Beyond (Rasmus Dalgaard Laustsen)....Pages 127-147
The Average Consumer and Its More or Less Distant Cousins (Rasmus Dalgaard Laustsen)....Pages 149-199
The UCPD and Trademark Average Consumers: Two of a Kind? (Rasmus Dalgaard Laustsen)....Pages 201-221
Front Matter ....Pages 223-223
The Early Beginnings of the Average Consumer Pre Sabel (Rasmus Dalgaard Laustsen)....Pages 225-252
Likelihood of Confusion: Legislative Harmonisation? (Rasmus Dalgaard Laustsen)....Pages 253-279
The Average Consumer in a “Global” Perspective (Rasmus Dalgaard Laustsen)....Pages 281-313
Contextualisation of the Average Consumer (Rasmus Dalgaard Laustsen)....Pages 315-366
Front Matter ....Pages 367-367
Putting the Average Consumer into Perspective (Rasmus Dalgaard Laustsen)....Pages 369-387
Back Matter ....Pages 389-435
