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Defending your brand against imitation: Consumer behavior, marketing strategies, and legal issues
International Journal of
ELSEVIER
Research in Marketing Intern. J. of Research in Marketing 14 (1997) 397-398
Book review
Defending Your Brand Against Imitation: Consumer Behavior, Marketing Strategies, and Legal Issues, by Judith Lynne Zaichkowsky. Westport, CT, Quorum Books, 1995, 184 pp. ISBN: 0-89930-829-5.
The majority of products sold bear a brand mark. A brand is valuable to customers as it serves as a guarantee of product or service quality. At the same time, a brand is valuable to the branding organization as it serves as a mechanism of market control and as a method of creating shareholder wealth. Thus, it is essential that marketing managers and researchers develop an understanding of the issues involved in protecting brands from imitation. Zaichkowsky's recent book, Defending Your Brand Against Imitation, is of interest to a brand manager who intends taking action on an infringement on brand trademarks or wants to prevent brand imitation by incorporating distinctive features into the design of new products. The author contributes a crisp summary of the issues involved in defending brands against imitation, with numerous illustrative examples and case references to set the scene for managers and scholars embarking on an enquiry of brand imitation. The legal-marketing focus of this book reflects a growing trend for marketing academics to serve as expert witnesses in court. Professor Zaichkowsky is one of a number of such expert witnesses. She acknowledges entering this area of research on request from legal counsel dealing with disputes on brand imitation. More generally, this trend towards using marketing professors as expert witnesses indicates a realization that the marketing discipline can offer contribution to the understanding of societal
issues and be pro-active in helping to solve disputes related to consumer issues. The book links three areas of inquiry: marketing strategy, legal issues and consumer behavior. As such, it serves as a useful first reference and overview, allowing the reader to span areas of inquiry on brand imitation across streams of research which do not generally communicate or integrate. This book (in its second printing) opens with a brief discussion of issues such as trademarks, legal aspects of counterfeiting and passing-off, consumer confusion and deception, and brand equity. The author goes on to consider some relevant aspects of consumer behavior and the psychological principles underlying brand imitation. An interesting presentation of imitation cases in the marketplace serves to demonstrate the dimensions of brand identity that may provide cues which confuse or mislead consumers. Viewed from an alternative perspective, these same brand identity dimensions (e.g., name, shape, symbols, colors, advertising images) can serve as agents of effective brand distinction which protect brands from future imitation. While the book exposes the reader to the key branding and consumer issues, it does not serve as a substitute for more detailed reading in these areas when specific needs dictate. Rather, it provides a first insight and handy reference from which brand managers might draw a checklist of specific brand imitation issues that relate to their particular situations. Zaichkowsky devotes a good portion of her book to a discussion of the methods available for testing whether or not brand imitation has occurred. A range of alternative techniques and measurement issues are outlined. The reader is warned of special circumstances which apply to research undertaken for litiga-
0167-8116/97/$17.00 © 1997 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Pii S 0 1 6 7 - 8 1 1 6 ( 9 7 ) 0 0 0 1 0 - 4
398
Book review/Intern. J. of Research in Marketing 14 (1997) 397-398
tion purposes. Once again, the book does not handle the specifics of research techniques and measurement issues in sufficient detail to stand alone as a reference for use in designing a research study to support litigation. Chapter 6, 'Testing for Brand Imitation,' offers the reader insights about the author's 'legal' research perspective. Some valuable considerations are raised which managers and researchers would do well to consider in planning any research program which might be referred to in the event of a legal dispute. In particular, the author warns that 'arguing over minor flaws is a favorite tactic of litigation lawyers, who try to divert attention from major issues and discredit the professionals who did the research' (p. 113). For example, readers are alerted to problems which may arise with 'don't know' responses in litigation research. Zaichkowsky suggests that "researchers may want to delete these responses or analyze them separately, to avoid criticism (in the court situation), concentrating on the sample of people who are confident in their judgements" (p. 122). While this approach may not always be appropriate in other research situations, researchers presenting their findings as 'expert witnesses' in a court room need to consider possible attacks on their reported findings. In the general 'illustratory' style of the
book, demonstrative case studies are introduced throughout the chapter on testing for brand imitations. In all, the author introduces or discusses over 100 legal cases. These legal references serve as an interesting source of understanding for marketers of the legal community's grasp of the concepts of brand equity, low-involvement shopping behavior or the importance of symbols in brand recognition. At times, the author could provide more information about the cited cases. For example, this book could have served as an ideal platform for more detailed discussion of the kinds of 'mishaps' and 'holes' in research studies that tend to be detected in the courtroom situation. In summary, this book provides an informative reference source for marketing managers, attorneys and academics who are new to the problems of brand differentiation and imitation. It provides an easy and interesting read on a range of aspects of brand differentiation, and scans some of the research techniques that have been used in legal cases. The author takes a practical view that demonstrates a wellrounded understanding of brand defense. Margy P. Conchar and George M. Zinkhan
University of Georgia Athens, GA, USA
ELSEVIER
Research in Marketing Intern. J. of Research in Marketing 14 (1997) 397-398
Book review
Defending Your Brand Against Imitation: Consumer Behavior, Marketing Strategies, and Legal Issues, by Judith Lynne Zaichkowsky. Westport, CT, Quorum Books, 1995, 184 pp. ISBN: 0-89930-829-5.
The majority of products sold bear a brand mark. A brand is valuable to customers as it serves as a guarantee of product or service quality. At the same time, a brand is valuable to the branding organization as it serves as a mechanism of market control and as a method of creating shareholder wealth. Thus, it is essential that marketing managers and researchers develop an understanding of the issues involved in protecting brands from imitation. Zaichkowsky's recent book, Defending Your Brand Against Imitation, is of interest to a brand manager who intends taking action on an infringement on brand trademarks or wants to prevent brand imitation by incorporating distinctive features into the design of new products. The author contributes a crisp summary of the issues involved in defending brands against imitation, with numerous illustrative examples and case references to set the scene for managers and scholars embarking on an enquiry of brand imitation. The legal-marketing focus of this book reflects a growing trend for marketing academics to serve as expert witnesses in court. Professor Zaichkowsky is one of a number of such expert witnesses. She acknowledges entering this area of research on request from legal counsel dealing with disputes on brand imitation. More generally, this trend towards using marketing professors as expert witnesses indicates a realization that the marketing discipline can offer contribution to the understanding of societal
issues and be pro-active in helping to solve disputes related to consumer issues. The book links three areas of inquiry: marketing strategy, legal issues and consumer behavior. As such, it serves as a useful first reference and overview, allowing the reader to span areas of inquiry on brand imitation across streams of research which do not generally communicate or integrate. This book (in its second printing) opens with a brief discussion of issues such as trademarks, legal aspects of counterfeiting and passing-off, consumer confusion and deception, and brand equity. The author goes on to consider some relevant aspects of consumer behavior and the psychological principles underlying brand imitation. An interesting presentation of imitation cases in the marketplace serves to demonstrate the dimensions of brand identity that may provide cues which confuse or mislead consumers. Viewed from an alternative perspective, these same brand identity dimensions (e.g., name, shape, symbols, colors, advertising images) can serve as agents of effective brand distinction which protect brands from future imitation. While the book exposes the reader to the key branding and consumer issues, it does not serve as a substitute for more detailed reading in these areas when specific needs dictate. Rather, it provides a first insight and handy reference from which brand managers might draw a checklist of specific brand imitation issues that relate to their particular situations. Zaichkowsky devotes a good portion of her book to a discussion of the methods available for testing whether or not brand imitation has occurred. A range of alternative techniques and measurement issues are outlined. The reader is warned of special circumstances which apply to research undertaken for litiga-
0167-8116/97/$17.00 © 1997 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Pii S 0 1 6 7 - 8 1 1 6 ( 9 7 ) 0 0 0 1 0 - 4
398
Book review/Intern. J. of Research in Marketing 14 (1997) 397-398
tion purposes. Once again, the book does not handle the specifics of research techniques and measurement issues in sufficient detail to stand alone as a reference for use in designing a research study to support litigation. Chapter 6, 'Testing for Brand Imitation,' offers the reader insights about the author's 'legal' research perspective. Some valuable considerations are raised which managers and researchers would do well to consider in planning any research program which might be referred to in the event of a legal dispute. In particular, the author warns that 'arguing over minor flaws is a favorite tactic of litigation lawyers, who try to divert attention from major issues and discredit the professionals who did the research' (p. 113). For example, readers are alerted to problems which may arise with 'don't know' responses in litigation research. Zaichkowsky suggests that "researchers may want to delete these responses or analyze them separately, to avoid criticism (in the court situation), concentrating on the sample of people who are confident in their judgements" (p. 122). While this approach may not always be appropriate in other research situations, researchers presenting their findings as 'expert witnesses' in a court room need to consider possible attacks on their reported findings. In the general 'illustratory' style of the
book, demonstrative case studies are introduced throughout the chapter on testing for brand imitations. In all, the author introduces or discusses over 100 legal cases. These legal references serve as an interesting source of understanding for marketers of the legal community's grasp of the concepts of brand equity, low-involvement shopping behavior or the importance of symbols in brand recognition. At times, the author could provide more information about the cited cases. For example, this book could have served as an ideal platform for more detailed discussion of the kinds of 'mishaps' and 'holes' in research studies that tend to be detected in the courtroom situation. In summary, this book provides an informative reference source for marketing managers, attorneys and academics who are new to the problems of brand differentiation and imitation. It provides an easy and interesting read on a range of aspects of brand differentiation, and scans some of the research techniques that have been used in legal cases. The author takes a practical view that demonstrates a wellrounded understanding of brand defense. Margy P. Conchar and George M. Zinkhan
University of Georgia Athens, GA, USA