Hardback
Hashtags and Trade Marks
A Comparative Legal Approach
9781035316601 Edward Elgar Publishing
This timely book examines the growing importance of hashtags both in online culture and within our digital society. Conducting a comparative analysis of legal strategies within the EU, Germany, and the United States, it aims to ascertain whether a fair balance currently exists between freedom of expression and competition in the treatment of hashtags as trade marks.
More Information
Critical Acclaim
Contents
More Information
This timely book examines the growing importance of hashtags both in online culture and within our digital society. Conducting a comparative analysis of legal strategies within the EU, Germany, and the United States, it aims to ascertain whether a fair balance currently exists between freedom of expression and competition in the treatment of hashtags as trade marks.
Nazanin Aslani firstly introduces a novel taxonomy of hashtags, highlighting their multifaceted functions, which goes beyond their commercial value to encompass their expressive, communicative, and organisational aspects. The book then highlights the need for a deeper understanding of hashtag functions, arguing that this lack of understanding has led to mischaracterisation by courts and registries, which in turn has led to contradictory case outcomes. Featuring an extensive analysis, this book advocates for strong fair use defences to maintain a balance between protection and free expression, competition, and internet regulation and deregulation.
Providing a unique focus on this evolving subject, Hashtags and Trade Marks will be an excellent resource for academics of comparative trade mark, unfair competition and intellectual property law. Practitioners, policy makers and in-house counsel will also benefit from this book to fill in knowledge gaps surrounding hashtags and provide solutions for organisational devices used as trade marks yet to be developed.
Nazanin Aslani firstly introduces a novel taxonomy of hashtags, highlighting their multifaceted functions, which goes beyond their commercial value to encompass their expressive, communicative, and organisational aspects. The book then highlights the need for a deeper understanding of hashtag functions, arguing that this lack of understanding has led to mischaracterisation by courts and registries, which in turn has led to contradictory case outcomes. Featuring an extensive analysis, this book advocates for strong fair use defences to maintain a balance between protection and free expression, competition, and internet regulation and deregulation.
Providing a unique focus on this evolving subject, Hashtags and Trade Marks will be an excellent resource for academics of comparative trade mark, unfair competition and intellectual property law. Practitioners, policy makers and in-house counsel will also benefit from this book to fill in knowledge gaps surrounding hashtags and provide solutions for organisational devices used as trade marks yet to be developed.
Critical Acclaim
‘This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the issues of the digital age from a trade mark law perspective, but also for those who want to engage with the importance of fundamental rights, such as freedom of expression, in trade mark law. The book offers not only a discussion of legal issues in the context of hashtags and trade marks, but also an examination of the increasingly important requirement of a fair balance between conflicting interests and rights in trade mark law against the background of a topical issue in the digital world.’
– Victoria Thüsing, IPKat blog
‘With a focus on US and German law, Aslani’s analysis of the legal protection of hashtags highlights persistent problems of doctrinal incoherence and inconsistency in two very different trade mark regimes. While providing scholarly rigor and depth, Hashtags and Trade Marks: A Comparative Legal Approach also offers practical solutions and a taxonomy of hashtag categories that will assist lawyers, judges, and administrative authorities dealing with real-world questions of registration and scope of protection for these unconventional marks. The implications of this multifaceted study could reach beyond the example of hashtags alone; as the opportunities afforded by digital technology exercise their profound influence on human relations in every sphere, the principles outlined in this book may well be applied to as-yet unimagined modes of future communication.’
– Barbara Lauriat, Texas Tech University, US
‘This is a must read for anyone who has an interest in hashtags and trade mark law. A very timely, first-of-its kind publication, this insightful work covers three crucial jurisdictions, the US, the EU and Germany to unpack the underlying fundamental issues of freedom of expression, competition and trade mark protection in the current information space.’
– Frederick Mostert, King’s College London, UK
– Victoria Thüsing, IPKat blog
‘With a focus on US and German law, Aslani’s analysis of the legal protection of hashtags highlights persistent problems of doctrinal incoherence and inconsistency in two very different trade mark regimes. While providing scholarly rigor and depth, Hashtags and Trade Marks: A Comparative Legal Approach also offers practical solutions and a taxonomy of hashtag categories that will assist lawyers, judges, and administrative authorities dealing with real-world questions of registration and scope of protection for these unconventional marks. The implications of this multifaceted study could reach beyond the example of hashtags alone; as the opportunities afforded by digital technology exercise their profound influence on human relations in every sphere, the principles outlined in this book may well be applied to as-yet unimagined modes of future communication.’
– Barbara Lauriat, Texas Tech University, US
‘This is a must read for anyone who has an interest in hashtags and trade mark law. A very timely, first-of-its kind publication, this insightful work covers three crucial jurisdictions, the US, the EU and Germany to unpack the underlying fundamental issues of freedom of expression, competition and trade mark protection in the current information space.’
– Frederick Mostert, King’s College London, UK
Contents
Contents:
PART I #SETTINGTHESTAGE: FOUNDATIONS,
ANCESTRY AND TAXONOMY OF HASHTAGS
1 Introduction: hashtags as trade marks and trade marks as hashtags
2 Ancestry and uses of hashtags
PART II NAVIGATING THE HASHTAG LEGAL
LANDSCAPE: IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS
3 Registered rights and hashtags
4 Hashtag mark infringement
5 Defences/fair use
PART III CLOSING ARGUMENTS: REACHING A CONCLUSION
6 Conclusion: addressing the conundrum of hashtag trade marks
Index
PART I #SETTINGTHESTAGE: FOUNDATIONS,
ANCESTRY AND TAXONOMY OF HASHTAGS
1 Introduction: hashtags as trade marks and trade marks as hashtags
2 Ancestry and uses of hashtags
PART II NAVIGATING THE HASHTAG LEGAL
LANDSCAPE: IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS
3 Registered rights and hashtags
4 Hashtag mark infringement
5 Defences/fair use
PART III CLOSING ARGUMENTS: REACHING A CONCLUSION
6 Conclusion: addressing the conundrum of hashtag trade marks
Index
