CIPIL Seminar: "The problem with the average consumer in European trade mark law"

Speaker: Jennifer Davis (University of Cambridge)

Location: B16

Abstract: The talk will consider the problem of identifying the average consumer in EU trade mark law. It will suggest that his or her position in case law relating to both distinctiveness and confusion is increasingly uncertain. It will consider explanations for this uncertainty. These might include challenges to neo-classical economic orthodoxy, changes in retailing including the rise of internet shopping and the expansion of the EU itself.The talk will then consider whether the concept of the average consumer might be replaced by a more evidence based approach to assessing both distinctiveness and confusion.