UCL IBIL PhD scholarship candidate Luminita Olteanu awarded international essay prize

UCL Laws and Institute of Brand and Innovation Law (IBIL) PhD student, Luminiţa Olteanu, has received a prize in the ATRIP Essay Competition 2019 for her paper entitled 'Rebranding strategies and their boomerang effect - the curious case of Burberry’.

The annual essay competition is organised by the International Association for the Advancement of Teaching and Research in Intellectual Property (ATRIP). The competition is open to young researchers in intellectual property law for submissions discussing an original topic, with relevance beyond one jurisdiction. The entries are evaluated based on factors including: the coherence and structure of the argument, the quality, detail and appropriateness of references to the current and relevant literature, argument and analysis and the relevance of the research for a broader audience. As part of the prize, the winning essays will be published in the Journal of World Intellectual Property Law.

In her winning essay, Lumi considered the effects of social, cultural and technological factors on Burberry’s advertisements campaigns over the period since the company was founded. Her research reveals the role which consumers play in shaping a brand’s reputation, and in doing so, she challenges some of the assumptions which European trade mark law makes. This topic forms part of her PhD thesis, under the supervision of IBIL’s Dr Matt Fisher and Dr Ilanah Fhima. Lumi’s research project is concerned with the European ‘anti-dilution’ protection afforded to registered trade marks with ‘reputation’. Her project seeks to evaluate how closely the reputation test established by the CJEU mirrors the way in which reputation is measured by brand holders, with a focus on the online environment.

Lumi is the current recipient of the IBIL Research Scholarship, open to all UCL PhD applicants in the field of Intellectual Property Law and awarded based upon academic merit.

Find out more

• Read Lumi's essay on ‘Rebranding strategies and their boomerang effect - the curious case of Burberry’
• View Lumi’s research profile