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The final event in the Center for Intellectual Property Law and Innovation’s Distinguished Lecture Series for the Spring 2016 semester will examine the topic “The Truthiness of Trademarks.” The event is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. on April 12 in the Inlow Hall Wynne Courtroom at IU McKinney.

The talk will be presented by Professor Margaret Chon, who is the Donald and Lynda Horowitz Professor for the Pursuit of Justice at Seattle University School of Law. In the lecture Professor Chon will examine the turn trademark law took during the twentieth century toward “truthiness,” noting that consumers have been fed a steady diet of advertising, branding and marketing designed to evoke subjective and often aspirational lifestyles rather than objective product qualities. The term, “truthiness,” was coined by comedian Stephen Colbert to describe something that is true because it feels true.

“What is even truer than this truthiness,” Professor Chon says, “is that trademark law has not evolved to address the kinds of common misrepresentations that occur in this environment of truthiness (not to mention cross-border holding companies and global supply chains). Moreover, trademark law continues to view consumers as mere passive recipients of trademarks, rather than as increasingly active and participatory global prosumers through social media and social justice campaigns. As a result, trademark law is increasingly tethered to truthiness, while it is missing out on some basic twenty-first century hacks that could not only expand markets but also increase overall social welfare through consumer and producer involvement in the kinds of products offered in the marketplace.”

A total of 1.0 hour of CLE credit is available with a registration. The lecture is free and open to the public. To learn more, visit the IU McKinney website.