Showing posts with label descriptive or classic fair use. Show all posts
Showing posts with label descriptive or classic fair use. Show all posts

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Fair Use Under the Trademark Laws; New York Law Journal, May 23, 2017

Howard Wintner, New York Law Journal; 

Fair Use Under the Trademark Laws


"The doctrine of fair use is usually associated with the copyright laws. There is, however, also a doctrine of fair use under the trademark laws. There are two branches of trademark fair use. One is descriptive fair use, which is often referred to as classic fair use. The other is nominative fair use. In classic fair use, the defendant uses the plaintiff's trademark to describe its own product or service. Nominative fair use occurs when the defendant uses the plaintiff's trademark to describe the plaintiff's product or service, even though its ultimate goal is to describe its own product or service. This article will discuss descriptive or classic fair use. The doctrine of nominative fair use is worthy of another article."