The Story of Luxury Products and the (Broken) Promise of Superior Product Quality in a World of Prestige for the Masses

Publication Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

10-2015

Abstract

This chapter examines the legal protection of luxury trademarks. These marks are often protected not only against trademark infringement, but also against trademark dilution because they are considered to be famous marks. More specifically, the chapter addresses the relationship between this protection and the promise of superior quality that luxury products generally convey to the public. It considers the evolution of the luxury industry and its progressive shift away from products of superior quality toward embracing also a culture of prestige for the masses, or “masstige”—certainly a more profitable aim, but one less focused on a tradition of superior product quality and exclusivity, and in turn less deserving of anti-dilution protection.

Keywords

luxury trademarks, trademark protection, trademark infringement, trademark dilution, luxury industry, anti-dilution protection

Discipline

Intellectual Property Law | International Trade Law | Law and Society

Publication

The Luxury Economy and Intellectual Property: Critical Reflections

Editor

Haochen Sun; Barton Carl Beebe; Madhavi Sunder

First Page

31

Last Page

56

ISBN

9780199335701

Identifier

10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199335701.003.0003

Publisher

Oxford University Press

City or Country

New York

Copyright Owner and License

Author

Additional URL

http://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199335701.003.0003

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