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

Authors

Irene Calboli, Texas A&M University School of LawFollow

Document Type

Book Section

Publication Date

10-2015

ISBN

9780199335701

DOI

10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199335701.003.0003

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.

First Page

31

Last Page

56

Num Pages

26

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Editor

Haochen Sun, Barton Beebe & Madhavi Sunder

Book Title

The Luxury Economy and Intellectual Property: Critical Reflections

Recommended Citation

Irene Calboli, The Story of Luxury Products and the (Broken) Promise of Superior Quality in a World of Prestige for the Masses, in The Luxury Economy and Intellectual Property: Critical Reflections 31 (Haochen Sun, Barton Beebe & Madhavi Sunder eds., 2015).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/facscholar/918