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7 J. Animal & Envtl. L. 100 (2015-2016)
Certified Green: Using Subsets of Trademark law to Bring Legitimacy to the Eco-Friendly Products Market

handle is hein.journals/jael7 and id is 292 raw text is: CERTIFIED GREEN: USING SUBSETS OF TRADEMARK LAW TO BRING LEGITIMACY TO THE EcO-FRIENDLY PRODUCTS MARKET By: CAiTLINL UCILE MCQUEEN* ABSTRACT What does it mean for a product to be green? How is one to know whether a product marketed as green is legitimately environmentally friendly, or merely pretext for grabbing a consumer's attention? With these underlying questions in mind, this note will examine whether and to what extent intellectual property (TP) reforms (specifically, the use of certification and/or collective marks) can foster legitimacy and transparency in the green products market? While the undisputed end of the broad- based green certification or collective mark scheme is to generate bottom-up positive environmental impacts through eco-friendly consumer choices, the best means to implement and regulate a green mark are unclear. This note will identify and assess the best possible policy response by evaluating three potential alternative models: the producer centered approach (whereby the mark would be collectively owned and regulated by the producers themselves); private ownership model (an independent third party would own the mark and allow complying producers to use it); and the government-centered mode (where likely the FTC or EPA (or a combination thereof) would define the standards and own the mark). While the producer-centered approach has the advantage of easy implementation and self-regulation, and private ownership model has had some success, this note will demonstrate that a government-centered model is preferable as it is the only model possessing the power to define green, the expertise to set standards, and the institutional and regulatory capacity to ensure products branded as green meet the threshold requirements. Caitlin McQueen is a J.D. Candidate and Brandeis Academic Fellow at the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law. She received her M.A. in Public Administration and Public Policy at the University of York in 2010, and her M.A. in International Relations from the Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals in 2011.

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