Trademark Law - Damages - The End of Trademark Law

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Source: http://works.bepress.com/kenneth_port/1/
April 17, 2008. Excerpted. For the full article in word document format or, if you prefer, in PDF document format. Both versions are 72 pages long.

Trademark Extortion: The End of Trademark Law
Kenneth L. Port, William Mitchell College of Law
Since 2001, through 2005, trademark lawsuits reaching trial dropped by 40%. From 1998 to 2005, annual aggregate awards for damages dropped by 99%. In the meanwhile, the number of trademark infringement lawsuits being filed is going up every year.
From 1947 to 2005, only 51% of trademark infringement lawsuits were won by the rights holder when the case went to trial. Trademark owners were successful only 55% of the time getting injunctions for the same time period. And, in only 5.5% of the cases were damages awarded. In 2000, the courts awarded attorney fees to the aggregate tune of 1.4 million dollars. By 2005, the aggregate total of attorney fees awarded by the courts was ZERO.
As for the threat of treble damages as allowed under the Lanham Act, treble damages are not awarded very frequently. In 2005, like attorney fees, the courts awarded no treble damages although they were requested in 28 cases that went to trial.

Federal Court Cases
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Federal Statutes
Copyright Act 17 U.S.C. 5 | Digital Millenium Copyright Act 17 U.S.C. 12 | Lanham Act 15 U.S.C. 22
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