Trademarks and the Internet

he idea of this project is to explore how trademarking activity has changed as a result of the internet. How has the evolution of the internet changed the companies' demand for trademarks and trademarking activities? The evolution of search engines and the importance of internet search has increased companies' need to identify unique trademarks and protect them. As stated in a recent New York Times article (Strom, 2012), “brand experts and trademark lawyers say the value of simple, easily understood brand names has escalated in the Internet era because consumers are more likely to find such products while doing searches on the Web.” The research will use statistical methods to:

(*) Relate how the spread of usage of the internet has affected the number of trademarks are registered, and the number of firms are searching for information about prior trademark registration.
(*) Understand how this change in trademark search and registration patterns differs between national and local firms. Has the advent of the internet made trademarking relatively more important for national firms or local firms?
(*) Understand how changes in trademarking activity have affected patterns of economic activity and growth at the county-level.