Almost every industry today confronts the potential role of artificial intelligence and machine learning in its future. While many studies examine AI in consumer marketing, less attention addresses AI's role in creating and selecting trademarks that are distinctive, recognizable, and meaningful to consumers. Traditional economic approaches to trademarks focus almost exclusively on consumer-based, demand-side considerations regarding search. However, these approaches are incomplete because they fail to account for substantial costs faced not just by consumers, but by trademark applicants as well. Given AI's rapidly increasing role in trademark search and similarity analysis, lawyers and scholars should understand its dramatic implications. This paper proposes that AI should interest anyone studying trademarks and their role in economic decision-making. We examine how machine learning techniques will transform the application and interpretation of foundational trademark doctrines, producing significant implications for the trademark ecosystem. We run empirical experiments regarding trademark search to assess the efficacy of various trademark search engines, many of which employ machine learning methods. Through comparative analysis, we evaluate how these AI-powered tools function in practice. In an age where artificial intelligence increasingly governs trademark selection, the classic division between consumers and trademark owners deserves an updated, supply-side framework. This insight has transformative potential for encouraging both innovation and efficiency in trademark law and practice.

翻译：当今几乎每个行业都面临着人工智能和机器学习在其未来发展中的潜在作用。尽管许多研究探讨了人工智能在消费者营销中的应用，但较少关注人工智能在创建和选择对消费者而言具有独特性、可识别性及意义的商标方面所扮演的角色。传统的商标经济学方法几乎完全集中于以消费者为基础、需求侧视角的检索考量。然而，这些方法并不完整，因为它们未能充分考虑不仅由消费者承担，同时也由商标申请人面临的实质性成本。鉴于人工智能在商标检索和相似性分析中日益增强的作用，律师与学者应当理解其带来的深远影响。本文提出，任何研究商标及其在经济决策中作用的人都应关注人工智能。我们探讨机器学习技术将如何变革基础商标原则的应用与解释，从而对商标生态系统产生重大影响。我们通过实证实验评估多种商标搜索引擎的效能，其中许多引擎采用了机器学习方法。通过比较分析，我们评估这些人工智能驱动工具的实际运作效果。在人工智能日益主导商标选择的时代，消费者与商标所有者之间的经典分野需要一种更新的、供给侧的分析框架。这一见解对于促进商标法律与实践的创新与效率具有变革性潜力。