Übernahme fiktiver Marken in die Realität ("Reverse Brand Placement")

Fictional trademarks are means of identification that solely exist in fictional worlds, such as in films, and therefore are disconnected from real-world market activities. If fictional worlds and/or their fictional trademarks prove to be popular with the consuming public, though, one can occasionally observe a phenomenon called „Reverse Brand Placement“, where such trademarks are transferred to reality and then used for the branding of „real“ goods or services. If the fictional trademark was usurped by a third party for this purpose without consent of the producer of the fictional world, the question is raised whether or on what grounds the producer is entitled to a legal position pursuant to which the third party can be enjoined from doing so. In this respect, IP rights and the law of unfair competition come into question, whereas specific questions and consequences are posed by the fact that fictional trademarks were only elements of fictional worlds initially.