Use of real-life imagery and words in luxury brand trademarks: a study of the trademark lawsuits involving the Polo/Lauren Company
Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics
ISSN: 1355-5855
Article publication date: 25 April 2022
Issue publication date: 9 March 2023
Abstract
Purpose
This article presents a study of the trademark lawsuits in Singapore involving the Polo/Lauren Company, L.P. (“PRL”) in their attempts to stop various competitors and businesses from using the word “polo” and/or a device of a polo player. Hitherto, there has not been any concerted study of these lawsuits that seeks to analyse the legal principles underpinning the case judgements and translate them into actionable marketing insights using both legal and marketing perspectives. Applying both of such perspectives through the domains of trademark law, consumer attitudes towards counterfeiting and marketing perspectives, such as targeting, promotion and pricing strategies, this article will distill practical and managerial implications for marketers in the luxury brand industry.
Design/methodology/approach
An interdisciplinary approach is adopted, using both legal and marketing frameworks to analyse the decisions, reasoning and implications from the PRL trademark lawsuits.
Findings
There are key practical considerations for marketers and luxury brand managers to consider, both at the conception and during the life cycle of the luxury brand, in order to optimise the level of legal protection under the trademark regime. These include the use of invented words and imaginary content in trademarks, exercising a balancing of various considerations in the use of “composite marks”, and the selection of market pricing, promotion and distribution strategies, which are elaborated in the article.
Research limitations/implications
Given the commonality of the subject matter involved in the trademark lawsuits involving PRL (i.e. the use of the word “polo” and/or the device of a polo player), this study has chosen to focus only on these lawsuits in the context of the Singapore market, and based on Singapore's legal framework, to glean thematic and practical insights. Further studies based on other types of businesses, geographical markets and legal frameworks could be explored to form a better basis for the applicability and comparability of the findings.
Originality/value
While there have been case studies and analyses performed on some of the individual PRL trademark lawsuits around the world, this will be the first study to look at the series of Singapore PRL lawsuits in a holistic and interdisciplinary perspective.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This article was developed from a conference paper titled “Distilling distinctiveness from the mystique: Trade Mark and Marketing Perspectives on Luxury Brand Management”, which was co-authored by Mr. Kwang-Hwee Cheng and Dr. Joicey Wei, and presented at “The Mystique of Luxury Brands Conference (2018)” on 9 May 2018. The author is deeply grateful to Dr. Joicey Wei for her valuable comments and contributions to the earlier conference paper and also to Dr. Dawn Chow for her valuable comments on an earlier version of the article.
Citation
Cheng, K.-H. (2023), "Use of real-life imagery and words in luxury brand trademarks: a study of the trademark lawsuits involving the Polo/Lauren Company", Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, Vol. 35 No. 3, pp. 606-624. https://doi.org/10.1108/APJML-10-2020-0703
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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