Comparative Advertising

Introduction
A few decades ago, advertising was still being considered as hefty non-revenue expenditure, but today all businesses recognize it as a vital function in their organization. With the growing awareness about Intellectual Property Rights, companies have realized the need for protection of their creative ideas in advertisements and branding. Moreover, increasing disputes are arising in the light of protection of brands and trademarks from infringement through competitive advertising. The project work will be focussed at analysing the issues in relation to trademarks in context of advertising. The leading case laws from Indian as well as foreign courts would be analysed in order to appraise the judicial opinion in this regard. The scope legislations for such protection shall also be reviewed in order to determine its adequacy in the present scenario of competitive advertising.
Literature Survey
1. W R Cornish, Intellectual Property: Patents Copyrights Trademarks and Allied Rights, Sweet & Maxwell, London
2. Paul Goldstein, Cases and Materials on the Law of Intellectual Property, West Information Pub Group, 1999
3. Julie Manning Magid, Quantifying Brand Image: Empirical Evidence of Trademark Dilution, 43 Am Bus. L.J. 1, Spring 2006
4. Uphar Shukla, Comparative Advertising and Product Disparagement vis-a-vis Trademark Law, 11 (6) Journal of Intellectual Property Rights 409, November 2006
5. The Misleading and Comparative Advertising Directive (European Council Directive 84/450)
6. Report from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on Consumer Complaints in respect of Distance selling and comparative advertising, 10 March 2000
Research Questions
1. What are the trademarks laws related to advertising and branding?
2. How are these Intellectual Property Rights protected under the present legal regime?
3. What are the recent controversies regarding commercial disparagement and Intellectual Property Rights violation in comparative advertising?
4. What measures can be taken to defend the creative property in advertisements?
Hypothesis
“If trademark laws facilitate protection of intellectual property rights in advertising, the benefits to companies going for aggressive marketing strategies are enhanced.”

Chapterisation
1. Introduction
2. Competitors Trademarks and Comparative Advertising
3. Legal Framework and Precedents
4. Puffing and Commercial Disparagement
5. Cost-benefit analysis for IPR Protection in Advertising
6. Suggestions and Conclusion