Antitrust Law And Trademarks

Trademark law is part of a larger body of law known as "unfair competition law." In the U.S., we really want everyone to be able to compete freely. We have decided that, as a general proposition, free competition serves consumers and businesses. The caveat to this general proposition is that we expect competition to be "fair." Not as in "life is not fair" fairness. Rather, in the sense that we do not want any business to use "dirty tricks" to get an upper hand in the marketplace.

Unfair competition law not only prevents the use of a trademark that is likely to confuse consumers about the source of goods or services, but also prevents the misappropriation of trade secrets, and prevents false or misleading advertising regarding product attributes or performance.

Believe it or not, all of the legal prohibitions within...