How Protecting Trademark Rights in Common Phrases Can Harm Free Expression

This week, “At the Edge of It All” was joined by USD law professor Lisa Ramsey, an expert on trademark law who teaches intellectual property law classes. Ramsey talked about how trademark laws can potentially conflict with the right to freedom of expression and fair competition. She also recounted several U.S. Supreme Court cases about First Amendment challenges to trademark laws, and discussed copyright and trademark issues that may arise when artificially-intelligent computer programs are used to create text or images.