What is the nominative use defense? What are the three key ...

[burton19126]

What is the nominative use defense? What are the three key elements of this defense?

Question 2

Why might an organization elect to use open source code instead of propriety software?

[ntsoane kedibone]

Answer to Question 1

Nominative fair use is a defense often employed by the defendant in trademark infringement cases where a defendant uses a plaintiffs mark to identify the plaintiffs products or services in conjunction with its own product or services. To successfully employ this defense, the defendant must show three things:

• The plaintiffs product or service cannot be readily identifiable without using the plaintiffs mark.


• It uses only as much of the plaintiffs mark as necessary to identify the defendants product or service.


• The defendant does nothing with the plaintiffs mark that suggests endorsement or sponsorship by the plaintiff.

Answer to Question 2

Two frequently cited reasons for using open source software are that it provides a better solution to a specific business problem and that it costs less.