What intellectual property lawyers can learn from Barbra Streisand, Sepp Blatter, and the "Coca-Cola cry-baby" : dealing with "trademark bullying" in South Africa

• Published in: Potchefstroom electronic law journal Vol. 16; no. 5; pp. 1 - 42
• Main Author: Louw, A.M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Portuguese; Afrikaans
• Published: North-West University 01.01.2013; North-West University (Potchefstroom Campus)
• Subjects: Ambush marketing; Case studies; Cease-and-desist letters; Duty to police; Intellectual property; IP rights; Law; Lawyers; Legal aspects; Legal norms; Legitimacy; Litigation strategy; Overly-aggressive enforcement; Rights holder over-reach; South Africa; Strategic behaviour; Streisand effect; Strike suits; Trademark extortion; Trademark infringement; Trademarks; Ambush marketing; Strike suits; Overly-aggressive enforcement; Litigation strategy; Trademark extortion; Duty to police; Cease-and-desist letters; Intellectual property; Trademarks; Rights holder over-reach; IP rights; Trademark infringement; Streisand effect
• ISSN: 1727-3781; 1727-3781
• DOI: 10.4314/pelj.v16i5.1

"Being a monopolist" is, apparently, akin to going on drugs or joining some strange religious sect. It seems to lead to complete loss of any sense of what profitable opportunities are and of how free markets function. Monopolists, apparently, can conceive of only one way of making money, and that is by bullying consumers and competitors to put up and shut up. Furthermore, it also appears to mean that past mistakes have to be repeated at a larger, and ever more ridiculous, scale.