"The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Trademark Law" is written by María Delfina Momeño, a student at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. She was presented with the Award during the MARQUES Annual Conference in Madrid in September.
The paper can be downloaded on the Lewis Gaze page on the website, where you can also see details of previous winners.
The Award was established in 1997 as a memorial to the first Chairman and President of MARQUES, and seeks to reward academic achievement in the field of trade mark law. It is administered by the MARQUES Education Team.
This year’s winning paper covers the impact of AI on trademarks, including its impact on online purchasing processes, on trade mark principles and on the registration process of trade marks. The paper also looks at trade mark infringement in the context of AI.
The paper concludes:
Trademark laws were made for human interaction with products, services, and brands. On the other hand, AI’s objective is to reduce or remove the human component of such interactions. However, in the field of trademark law, as explained throughout the essay, AI won’t be able to substitute humans totally, and they must join efforts. This is because trademark infringements or confusion evaluations, for example, are analyzed on a case-to-case basis and by considering different circumstances. Assessing the contextual use of a sign remains challenging, as there are no specific rules or automatic data that would apply to all cases. Consequently, making complex decisions is not, at least today, beyond AI's capabilities.
Additionally, Courts will have to adjust to the new realities of AI concerning trademark law. Trademark law will eventually need to adapt to these technological changes. Nevertheless, as previously exposed, trademark law will not be discarded, as one of the principles of a trademark’s existence is the emotional link between the consumer and the brand, which clearly cannot be provided by AI systems.
The photo shows María receiving her award during the Annual Conference in Madrid.
Issue 143
You can now download the paper that won this year’s Lewis Gaze Memorial Award from the MARQUES website
Annual Conference delegates can still download the Resource Pack, which includes photos, presentations and videos of the Conference sessions, from the MARQUES website
On 17 November the EU Court of Justice handed down judgments in five cases concerning the interpretation of legislation including the Trade Mark Directive and Enforcement Directive
EUIPO hosted the annual meetings of the five biggest trade mark and design offices at the end of October
Developments at EUIPO include new offices joining the IP Register in Blockchain, MBBC meetings and further extension of time limits for parties in Ukraine
WIPO has published the World Intellectual Property Indicators (WIPI) report, as well as a traditional knowledge language pack and Green Technology Book. Plus: Paraguay has joined two IP treaties
Gabriele Engels, Co-Vice-Chair of the MARQUES Cyberspace Team, provides an update on the EU Digital Services Act
Keep up to date with all the latest IP news and analysis on the MARQUES blogs and social media!
MARQUES was very sorry to hear of the sudden and unexpected death of Björn Bahlmann on 4 November