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Decision Making as Output and Bounded Rationality

  The classical economics theories proceed on the assumption of rational agents. Rationality implies the economic agents undertake actions or exercise choices based on the cost-benefit analysis they undertake. The assumption further posits that there exists no information asymmetry and thus the agent is aware of all the costs and benefits associated with the choice he or she has exercised. The behavioral school contested the decision stating the decisions in practice are often irrational. Implied there is a continuous departure from rationality. Rationality in the views of the behavioral school is more an exception to the norm rather a rule. The past posts have discussed the limitations of this view by the behavioral school. Economics has often posited rationality in the context in which the choices are exercised rather than theoretical abstract view of rational action. Rational action in theory seems to be grounded in zero restraint situation yet in practice, there are numerous restra

Trademarks, Generic, Descriptive and the Online Space

At a discussion in a seminar some years back, there was an opinion increasingly felt that intellectual property rights (IPRs) were becoming increasingly technical. By its very characteristics, patents were technical, copyrights were technical in the digital days, while trade secrets too were technical more often than not. What was perhaps not technical was the trade marks. Yet, the opinion was veering towards trademarks would increasingly involve a technical components given the rise of dotcoms. This discussion came to the mind as one read the judgment of the US Supreme Court on the trademark registrations and the conditions associated with them.   Trademarks offer distinctiveness to the products, firms, brands and services. They differentiate the offerings of one producer from another. In a universe predominated by differentiation, these are the tools to distinguish one offering from another while conveying what is different about them. At certain level, they seek to enable a firm