Developments in trade marks law have called into question a variety of basic features as well as bolder extensions of legal protection. Other disciplines can help us think about fundamental issues such as: what is a trade mark? What does it do? What should be the scope of its protection? This volume assembles essays examining trade marks and brands from a multiplicity of fields: from business history marketing linguistics legal history philosophy sociology and geography. Each chapter pairs lawyers’ and non-lawyers’ perspectives so that each commentator addresses and critiques his or her counterpart’s analysis. The perspectives of non-legal fields are intended to enrich legal academics’ and practitioners’ reflections about trade marks and to expose lawyers judges and policy-makers to ideas concepts and methods that could prove to be of particular importance in the development of positive law.

Part I. Legal and Economic History: 1. The Making of Modern Trade Mark Law: The Construction of the Legal Concept of Trade Mark (1860–1980) Lionel Bently; 2. The Making of Modern Trade Mark Law: The U.K. 1860–1914. A Business History Perspective David Higgins; Part II. Current Positive Law in the E.U. and the U.S.: 3. Between a Sign and a Brand: Mapping the Boundaries of a Registered Trade Mark in European Union Trade Mark Law Jennifer Davis; 4. “See Me Feel Me Touch Me Hea[r] Me” (and maybe smell and taste me too): I Am a Trademark – A U.S. Perspective Jane C. Ginsburg; Part III. Linguistics: 5. ‘How Can I Tell the Trade Mark on a Piece of Gingerbread from All the Other Marks on It?’ Naming and Meaning in Verbal Trade Mark Signs Alan Durant; 6. What Linguistics Can Do For Trade Mark Law Graeme Dinwoodie; Part IV. Marketing: 7. Brand Culture: Trade Marks Marketing and Consumption Jonathan Schroeder; 8. Images in Brand Culture: Responding Legally to Professor Schroeder’s Paper David Vaver; Part V. Sociology: 9. Trade Mark Style as a Way of Fixing Things Celia Lury; 10. The Irrational Lightness of Trade Marks: a Legal Perspective Catherine Ng; Part VI. Law and Economics: 11. A Law and Economics Perspective on Trade Marks Andrew Griffiths; 12. The Economic Rationale of Trademarks: An Economist’s Critique Jonathan Aldred; Part VII. Philosophy: 13. Trade Marks as Property: A Philosophical Perspective Dominic Scott Alex Oliver and Miguel Ley Pineda; 14. An Alternative Approach to Dilution Protection: A Response to Scott Oliver and Ley Pineda Michel Spence; Part VIII. Anthropology: 15. An Anthropological Approach to Transactions Involving Names and Marks Drawing on Melanesia James Leach; 16. Traversing the Cultures of Trade Mark Sphere: Observations on the Anthropological Approach of James Leach Megan Richardson; Part IX. Geography: 17. Geographical Indications: Not All Champagne and Roses Bronwyn Parry; 18. (Re)Locating Geographical Indications: A Response to Bronwyn Parry Dev Gangjee.