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Trademark infringement can be a messy business. Is a toothpaste brand called “Colddate” similar enough to “Colgate” to merit legal action? What about a fried chicken restaurant called “chaLOUISVUI TONDAK” and fashion label “Louis Vuitton”?
Courts around the world often adjudicate these cases by determining whether a “reasonable person” would consider the trademarks similar enough to cause confusion. But similarity – itself a fairly subjective quality – is often measured in ways that are susceptible to manipulation and bias.
One potential way to get around this: brain scans.
Marketing professor Zhihao Zhang of the University of Virginia and his colleagues wondered whether they could capitalize on how the brain suppresses repetitive information to more neutrally determine similarity between trademarks. In other words, it could confirm to a court whether a similar-sounding name really is confusing to a consumer – and thus help determine whether trademark infringement took place.
Their findings both expand the possible applications of neuroimaging in the law, and raise questions about what role neuroscience should play in legal decision-making.
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Zhihao Zhang, University of Virginia
How do you determine whether one brand is similar enough to another to infringe on its trademark? Researchers propose that comparing brain scans could be an option.
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Quote of the week 💬
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“Compassionate management can be as simple as asking how an employee is doing, properly listening to them, and perhaps a small gesture like having a cup of coffee together. It sounds simple, but compassion towards employees and colleagues tends to depend on individual behavior rather than being something that is encouraged systematically at an organizational level."
– Marina Boulos, teaching associate in human resource management at University of Manchester, from her story Why eating at work is important – even the odd slice of cake
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Markets
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D. Brian Blank, Mississippi State University
Companies bought $1 trilion of their own shares in 2022. What’s wrong with that?
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Technology
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Peter Wells, Cardiff University
After years of turmoil, Renault and Nissan hope to rebalance their partnership to take on Europe’s booming electric car market.
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Business
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Francesca Farrington, University of Aberdeen; Justin Borg-Barthet, University of Aberdeen
A Scottish parliamentary committee is investigating whether the nation’s laws to protect journalistic freedoms need to be tightened.
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Philanthropy
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David Campbell, Binghamton University, State University of New York; Elizabeth J. Dale, Seattle University; Michael Moody, Grand Valley State University
As giving receded to pre-pandemic levels, most of these gifts were designated for foundations, higher education, hospitals and medical research.
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Workers
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Robert Breunig, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University; Matthew Taylor, Australian National University
Australia’s education system is not doing that well in correcting for the disadvantage students face in the classroom.
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