Research & Analysis
White Papers
Long-form analysis of trademark law, federal unfair competition law, and the questions emerging technologies raise in commerce. Each paper stands on its own and closes with practical steps a business can take now.
The technology chain, one layer at a time
Trademark and Lanham Act Liability in AI-Powered Commerce: A Five-Part Series
Generative and agentic AI now sit between businesses and the people who buy from them. When an AI system misuses a trademark, misdescribes a product or service, or implies an endorsement no one gave, the liability question is no longer limited to the business that placed an advertisement. It reaches the companies that build the models, the platforms that answer the questions, the tools that write and place the marketing, the systems that handle sales conversations, and the agents that now complete purchases.
This series takes that technology chain one layer at a time. Each paper identifies which actors face exposure at that layer, explains how established trademark and Lanham Act principles apply to the new facts, isolates the questions the law has not yet answered, and sets out the controls a business can put in place before a dispute forces the issue.
- Forthcoming
Foundational Model Provider Liability.
How training-data decisions, model design, and default output behavior create trademark exposure at the base layer, and how that exposure travels into every downstream application.
- Forthcoming
AI-Powered Search and Application-Layer Liability.
Generative answer engines, retrieval-augmented generation, and single-answer responses, and the erosion of the protections that historically shielded traditional search.
- Forthcoming
AI-Powered Marketing, Advertising, and Content Generation Liability.
Automated ad copy, creative assets, and campaign optimization, and the trademark and false advertising exposure generated and published at scale.
- Forthcoming
AI-Powered Sales, Customer Support, and Revenue Operations Liability.
Competitive intelligence tools, automated outreach, and customer-facing AI, including false advertising, false association, and disparagement exposure in business-to-business and post-sale communications.
- Forthcoming
Agentic Commerce Liability.
Autonomous shopping and purchasing agents that select, substitute, and buy, and the challenge they pose to trademark law's assumption of a human consumer encountering the mark.
The papers publish here in order as each is finalized. Businesses that want to discuss how a paper's analysis applies to their own use of AI can contact Tailored IP.
First paper forthcoming.