Before you work up a Twitter profile for Disney’s Elsa, make a fake Facebook account for Archie Andrews or sue someone for doing something similar with your company’s registered mark, read through Amy Cahill’s advice. She’s a trademark lawyer at Stites & Harbison and a prolific blogger with some ideas on the issue.
Think of trademarks as “commercial symbols that provide ‘shorthand’ information for consumers looking for goods and services from a particular source,” she says. When someone copies these, customers can become confused and litigation can ensue. This is accepted under the First Amendment because the need for consumers to have accurate information outweighs a competitor’s right to use whatever words or symbols necessary to sell goods.
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