Dustin Marlan
Assistant Professor of Law, and Director of the Intellectual Property Clinic
Areas of Expertise
- Advertising and Marketing Law
- Copyright Law
- Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law
- Entrepreneurship and the Law
- Intellectual Property Law
- Internet Law
- Media Law
- Privacy Law
- Public Interest Law
- Science and Technology Law
- Trademark Law
Biography
Dustin Marlan is an Assistant Professor of Law and Director of the Intellectual Property Clinic at Carolina Law. His research focuses on the impact of metaphor, rhetoric, and imagery on intellectual property and technology law, with particular emphasis on trademarks, the right of publicity, and bioethics. His scholarship has appeared in prominent law reviews, including the Boston University Law Review, Hastings Law Journal, Texas A&M Law Review, Washington Law Review, and William & Mary Law Review, and was recently reviewed in JOTWELL.
As Director of the Intellectual Property Clinic, Marlan oversees the education of students working to protect trademarks and other IP assets for entrepreneurs, small businesses, and non-profits, applying his academic research in real-world contexts. He also teaches the Privacy Law Survey course. He was previously an Affiliated Researcher for the Project on Psychedelics Law and Regulation (POPLAR) at the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School, reflecting his broader interest in the ethical and legal dimensions of emerging technologies.
Marlan graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, where he served as senior editor of the Journal of Constitutional Law. He has practiced law at K&L Gates LLP and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC. Before joining Carolina Law, he taught at the University of Michigan Law School and the University of Massachusetts School of Law.
Selected Publications
The Trademark Bargain, 75 AM. U. L. REV. (forthcoming 2026).
Servicing Trade Dress: Demystifying the Tertium Quid, 58 U.C. DAVIS L. REV. 1513 (2025).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN
Psychedelic Capitalism and the Perceptual Threshold, 103 B.U. L. REV. 643 (2023).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN | Hein
The Nightmare of Dream Advertising, 65 WM. & MARY L. REV. 259 (2023).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN | Hein | BEPress
The Dystopian Right of Publicity, 37 BERKELEY TECH. L.J. 803 (2022).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN | Hein
Is the Word "Consumer" Biasing Trademark Law?, 8 TEX. A&M L. REV. 367 (2021).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN | Hein | BEPress
Rethinking Trademark Law's "Consumer" Label, 55 GONZ. L. REV. 422 (2020).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN | Hein
Unmasking the Right of Publicity, 71 HASTINGS L.J. 419 (2020).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN | Hein | BEPress
Beyond Cannabis: Psychedelic Decriminalization and Social Justice, 23 LEWIS & CLARK L. REV. 851 (2019).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN | Hein
Visual Metaphor and Trademark Distinctiveness, 93 WASH. L. REV. 767 (2018).
Westlaw | Lexis/Nexis | SSRN | Hein