A Bayesian Network Model of Trademark Dilution

• Activity Number: 299
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Wednesday, August 11, 2004 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Section on Bayesian Statistical Science
• Author(s): Greg M. Allenby*+
• Companies: Ohio State University
• Keywords: memory ; consumer behavior ; MCMC ; marketing ; neural network

Abstract

Trademark dilution refers to the harm that may result to a trademark owner when its well-known mark, such as a brand name, is used in an unauthorized manner by another firm in an unrelated product category. Imagine that a consumer, while shopping, came across a product called Kodak bicycles (a product not made by the Eastman Kodak company). If the consumer were to mistakenly infer that the bicycle was manufactured or authorized for manufacture by Eastman Kodak, s/he would be said by legal practitioners to be confused regarding product source. If a significant number of consumers exhibited a similar likelihood of consumer confusion, this would constitute the basis for a standard case of trademark infringement. The Kodak bicycle scenario described here, one of the earliest cases of trademark dilution, was decided in Kodak's favor in 1898 (Eastman Photographic Materials Co. v. John Griffith Corp. 1898), with the bicycle maker prohibited from further use of the Kodak name. We propose a statistical model for measuring the effects of various variables used in trademark litigation on the consumer's ability to recall product categories associated with given brand names.