Handbook of Information Security: Information Warfare, Social, Legal, and International Issues and Security Foundations, Volume 2

Trademark Law and the Internet

Ray Everett-Church, PrivacyClue LLC

Introduction

Trademark Defined

Federal Trademark Law

Trademark Registration

The Differences Between ®, ™ and ^SM

State Statutes and Common Law

Infringement and Dilution

Infringement

Dilution

Other Trademark Claims

Parody and Fair Use

Policing Trademark on the Internet

Meta Tags

Deep Linking

Domain Names

Domain Name System Basics

Domain Name Registration

Internet Domain Disputes

Cybersquatting

Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act

ICANN Domain Name Dispute Process

Conclusion

Glossary

Cross References

References

INTRODUCTION

Trademark law is a fascinating subject for many people, in part because most everybody in our society understands and appreciates the power of popular trademarks, such as Lexus, Pokemon, Yahoo!, and Safeway. Trademarks are such an integral part of our language and culture that we all have a vested interest in their protection. Because trademarks are all about meaning, trademark disputes are a kind of spectator sport: they involve popular cultural icons and turn on questions such as whether the average person is likely to be confused if a trademark is used improperly. So in many respects, everybody gets to have an opinion on trademark issues, and that opinion more often than not counts for something in the final calculus of trademark disputes.

In this chapter, we will look at the fundamental ideas that underlie the protection of trademarks and we will look at ways in which trademarks can be ...