Trademark protection of a fictional character provides the owner with the exclusive right to use the character in connection with goods and services, as well as the right to prevent the unauthorized use of the character in connection with goods and services of infringing third parties.

FORBES: Protecting Fictional Characters: Could You Legally Write A New Harry Potter Novel?

At first, The Avett Brothers' "Yardsale" unfolds as a fairly straightforward study of the mundane items at a neighborhood yard sale: From plastic flowers to a blade that may or may not have been used, the selections are viewed from a bittersweet distance, as if the band merely wants to draw a character sketch of lonely and unloved household goods.

NPR: Turning the Past Into a Pile of Ash

According to James Dunkerley, the director of the new institute, the flows of ideas, people, goods, services and culture are now so substantial as to help to give a distinctive character to the hemisphere as a whole.

ECONOMIST: A new look at the New World