Ryan Whalen et al on How Many Latours Is Too Many? Measuring Brand Name Congestion in Bordeaux Wine (J of Wine Economics)

"How Many Latours Is Too Many? Measuring Brand Name Congestion in Bordeaux Wine"

Christopher Buccafusco, Jonathan S. Masur and Ryan Whalen

Journal of Wine Economics 

Published on 18 February 2022

Abstract: Firms rely on brand names to market goods to consumers, and consumers rely on brand names to locate goods that satisfy their preferences. If multiple firms are using the same or similar names, consumers may be confused about which product to buy, and firms may not obtain the benefits of their investments in quality. Recently, both firms and scholars in a number of industries have expressed concern about brand name congestion—too many firms clustering around too few terms. This paper applies computational linguistic analysis to chateau names in the Bordeaux wine region to study the degree of brand congestion within a mature, traditional, and high-value market. We find that Bordeaux producers have highly similar names to one another, far more than in comparable wine regions such as California and Alsace. More than a quarter of all Bordeaux producers have a name that is identical or nearly so to at least one other producer, and many terms are claimed by dozens of different producers. Interestingly, however, we find that the most famous and renowned producers have names that tend to be more distinctive than their less famous brethren. 

New Book: The Luxury Economy and Intellectual Property

The Luxury Economy and Intellectual Property: Critical Reflections
Editors: Haochen Sun, Barton Beebe and Madhavi Sunder
Oxford University Press
July 2015, 368 pp.

Description: Intellectual property law plays a pivotal role in ensuring that luxury goods companies can recoup their investments in the creation and dissemination of their copyrighted works, trademarked logos, and patented designs. In 2011, global sales for luxury goods reached about $250 billion, and consumers in East and Southeast Asia accounted for more than 50 percent of that figure. The rapid expansion of the market has prompted some retailers to wield intellectual property against the influx of imitators and counterfeiters. 

The Luxury Economy and Intellectual Property comprehensively explores the rise of the luxury goods economy and the growing role of intellectual property in creating, sustaining, and regulating this economy. Leading scholars across various disciplines critically consider the industry, its foundational intellectual property laws, and the public interest and social concerns arising from the intersection of economics and law. Topics covered include defining the concept of luxury, the social life of luxury goods, concerns about distributive justice in a world flooded by luxury goods and knockoffs, the globalization of luxury goods, and the economic, social, and political ramifications of the meteoric rise of the Asian luxury goods market.

Highlights:

• Comprehensively explores the rise of the luxury goods economy and the growing role of intellectual property in creating, sustaining, and regulating this economy.
• Critically considers the industry, its foundational intellectual property laws, and the public interest and social concerns arising from the intersection of economics and law
• Covers important topics including defining the concept of luxury, and the social life and globalization of luxury goods
• Considers the economic, social, and political ramifications of the Asian luxury goods market

Chapter 12, written by Haochen Sun, is entitled "The Ethical Responsibility of Luxury Companies and Consumers".

Haochen Sun on Trademark Protection of Luxury Brands

"The Diversity of Interests in the Trademark Protection of Luxury Brands"
Haochen Sun
in Irene Calboli & Srividhya Ragavan (eds), Diversity in Intellectual Property: Identities, Interests, and Intersections
Cambridge University Press, 2015

Introduction (excerpt): During the past two decades, the luxury industry rapidly developed and expanded its presence in many major cities around the world.  In 2013, global luxury goods sales reached approximately $300 billion.  Culturally, as status symbols, luxury goods function to define class, social distinction, and personal beliefs and values.

     Luxury companies utilize their trademarks as status-signaling symbols to market their products and services.  From this perspective, trademarks have become one of their most valuable assets...

     But should trademark law serve the interests of luxury companies and their rich consumers?  This chapter explores this issue through the lens of the recent litigation between two French luxury fashion companies: Christian Louboutin and Yves Saint Laurent. The former has made the red sole the iconic design feature of its footwear for women.  Christian Louboutin asserted that it should complete "territorial" control of the red sole, to be landmarked by flags of trademark protection.

Credit: Arroser 

    By focusing on this case, this chapter opens a perspective on the ramifications of the trademarkability of the red sole for the role of trademark law in distributing social resources and accommodating the diversity of interests of various stakeholders.  It argues that we should reconsider whether Louboutin's red sole mark is distinctive enough to warrant trademark protection.  The chapter proposes that this issue must be examined from the social justice perspective.  It contends that social justice should have the trumping power to deny trademark protection of the red sole mark even if it is adequately distinctive...

Haochen Sun on Anti-dilution Protection of Luxury Brands

"Anti-dilution protection of luxury brands in the global economy"
Haochen Sun
in Daniel J. Gervais (ed), International Intellectual Property: A Handbook of Contemporary Research (Edward Elgar, March 2015) 407-432
Extract: In June 2008, the Paris Commercial Court held eBay secondarily liable for offering online venues to sell counterfeit Louis Vuitton products. In particular, the court ruled that eBay had harmed the reputation of Louis Vuitton’s trademarks. On the other side of the Atlantic, eBay was sued in the United States (US) by another luxury company, Tiffany, for facilitating the sale of counterfeit Tiffany products on the eBay website. In this case, the Southern District Court of New York ruled in favor of eBay, holding that eBay did not harm the reputation of the Tiffany trademark. Why did these two factually similar trademark dilution cases yield judicial decisions that were at odds with each other? This chapter aims to explore the policy responsible for this rift. It reveals that the rift is actually the tip of the iceberg in the global anti-dilution protection of luxury brands. In fact, luxury companies face two major challenges in securing adequate anti-dilution protection. At the international level, the major intellectual property treaties do not afford clear-cut minimum standards for anti-dilution protection of well-known trademarks. At the domestic level, divergences in anti-dilution protections in the world’s three main luxury markets – the European Union (EU), the US, and China – have rendered it more difficult for luxury companies to prevent dilution of their brands...  Click here to download Dr Sun's paper published in the Georgetown Journal of International Law.