[pp.int.general] Fake Rolex

[Richard Stallman]

It is often possible to see and judge the features of a product.
However, it is much harder to judge its quality.  Maybe an expert can,
but most people are not experts about most of what they buy.  For
quality, it is often useful to buy from a brand that has a reputation
for quality.

For major purchases I have sometimes looked things up in Consumer
Reports.  From the information there, I can tell that Foobar model XYZ
is the best for me, for its features, its reliability, etc.  If
someone else can make another product and label it Foobar model XYZ, I
would not get what I was expecting, and Consumer Reports would do me
no good.

For these reasons, something like today's trademark law helps me
as a consumer.

    if consumers are interested in brands, that sort of speaks for
    trademarks. if it wasn't for the case that a brand is something you
    build over time, and that would be just as possible without the
    trademark laws.

When people pay attention to a company name because its products have
earned a reputation for good quality, that serves society.

However, if investing in a brand reaps a benefit in some other way, it
is more or less a matter of manipulating the public.  Current
trademark law encourages this, and often functions as an incentive for
more advertising.  I don't think that is a contribution to society,

Thus, I think it would be useful to change the laws so that brands
can be used for the former purpose and not for the latter.
However, I don't have a specific recommendation for how to do this.