Grace McLaughlin on Nonsense Marks

Ipse Dixit

In this episode, Grace McLaughlin, a recent graduate of Harvard Law School, discusses her note "Fanciful Failures: Keeping Nonsense Marks off the Trademark Register," which is published in the Harvard Law Review. McLaughlin begins by explaining what "nonsense marks" are and why some companies register them. She observes that nonsense marks frustrate the expectations of trademark doctrine, primarily because they linguistically fail to function as marks. She explains how trademark examiners should identify nonsense marks, and differentiate them from merely weak marks. And she reflects on what nonsense marks can teach us about the application of trademark doctrine. McLaughlin is on Twitter at @graceyphus.

This episode was hosted by Brian L. Frye, Spears-Gilbert Professor of Law at the University of Kentucky College of Law. Frye is on Twitter at @brianlfrye.

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