Dogan, Stacey L.; Lemley, Mark A. --- "A search-costs theory of limiting doctrines in trademark law" [2008] ELECD 162; in Dinwoodie, B. Graeme; Janis, D. Mark (eds), "Trademark Law and Theory" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2008)

Book Title: Trademark Law and Theory

Editor(s): Dinwoodie, B. Graeme; Janis, D. Mark

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781845426026

Section: Chapter 3

Section Title: A search-costs theory of limiting doctrines in trademark law

Author(s): Dogan, Stacey L.; Lemley, Mark A.

Number of pages: 30

Extract:

2 The semiotic account of trademark
doctrine and trademark culture
Barton Beebe



I. Introduction
Semiotics is the study of signs and sign systems. While linguistics concerns
itself specifically with human speech, semiotics investigates "the processes
and effects of the production and reproduction, reception and circulation of
meaning in all forms, used by all kinds of agent[s] of communication."1
Semiotic thought developed into its own distinctive field of inquiry in the late-
nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries at a time strangely coincident with the
development of modern trademark doctrine.2 It was during this period that the
Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure projected a bold extension of his
research in structural linguistics: "A science that studies the life of signs
within society is conceivable . . . I shall call it semiology (from Greek semeîon
`sign'). Semiology would show what constitutes signs, what laws govern
them."3 Since Saussure's time, semiotics (or semiology) has developed into a
sophisticated systems-theoretical field of knowledge of enormous reach and
ambition. The semiotic tradition forms the foundation of the past century's
structuralist and poststructuralist thought across the humanities.4
In this short chapter, I will seek to show how semiotic concepts can be
applied to clarify and ameliorate fundamental areas of trademark doctrine and
policy. Elsewhere I have set forth at length a semiotic analysis of trademark
law.5 My purpose here is not to reprise that account, nor is it simply to cele-

* Associate Professor of Law, Benjamin J. Cordozo School ...