Economic Rationale For Extending Protection To Smell Marks

Ashitha Bhagwan, Namita Kulkarni and Padmanabha Ramanujam

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: In the traditional view of trademark law, a trademark serves its brand-identifying function. Consequently, marks which consumers actually use to identify the source of a product were allowed protection. James Hawes was the first commentator to assert that product scent merits trademark protection. This paper presents a study which discusses the appropriateness of trademark protection for fragrances. It is also argued that there exists some economic justification for allowing new forms of non-standard marks and in particular smell marks.

Keywords: smell marks; fragrances and non-standard marks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: K11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007-10-31
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