
	Where results make sense

Topic: Law of dilution

Related Topics

Wilhelm Ostwald

	Dilution (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-12)
		Courts applying state dilution statutes recognize that dilution occurs in two ways: (1) when a junior mark causes "tarnishment" of the famous mark and (2) when the use of the junior mark causes "blurring" of the famous mark's power to identify and distinguish goods and services.
		While many states have adopted their own form of trademark dilution law, state dilution generally requires that a mark be distinctive and that the defendant's mark is likely to dilute the plaintiff's mark.
		This dilution occurs in either of two ways: (1) when a junior mark causes "tarnishment" of the famous mark and (2) when the use of the junior mark causes "blurring" of the famous mark's power to identify and distinguish goods and services.
	www.tabberone.com /Trademarks/folder/Dilution.html (309 words)

	Trademark Dilution
		Dilution is the blurring or tarnishing of the image or persona of a well known trademark by use of a similar mark typically on unrelated goods, or in a manner that tends to reduce its distinctiveness.
		Justification for the dilution doctrine is that somehow the public benefits from protection against diluting the distinctiveness of a famous mark and that it simply is not right to reduce the importance or value of a very valuable mark for the free ride of the newcomer, even if the public is not confused.
		Although dilution has existed for many years, what is significant is that by elevating dilution to a higher status in the law, lawyers and businesspeople alike might be expected to be more conscious of the law in the selection process.
	www.supnik.com /dilute.htm (4440 words)

	Trademark - Open Encyclopedia (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-12)
		The main purpose of trademark law is to protect the public from being confused or deceived about the origin and quality of a product.
		Instead, dilution protection law aims to protect sufficiently strong trademarks from losing their singular association in the public mind with a particular product, perhaps imagined if the trademark were to be encountered independently of any product (i.e., just the word Pepsi spoken, or on a billboard).
		One principle of trademark law in various jurisdictions in Europe is that of 'wrongful threats', which is designed to prevent large corporations from 'bullying' smaller companies.
	open-encyclopedia.com /Trademark (2508 words)

	Encyclopedia: Law of dilution (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-12)
		Interestingly, the new law also provides that the ownership of a valid federal registration is a complete bar to the assertion of a dilution claim under state law, thereby effectively pre-empting state dilution laws.
		Although approximately 25 states have already enacted laws that prohibit trademark dilution, this new federal law is intended to provide uniform and nationwide protection for famous marks.
		As with dilution protection, enforcing trademark rights over domain name owners involves protecting a trademark outside the obvious context of its consumer market, because domain names are global and not limited by goods or service.
	www.nationmaster.com /encyclopedia/Law-of-dilution (410 words)

	Fed-Soc.org - Trademark Anti-Dilution Laws as Cultural Censorship - Spring 1997 (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-12)
		Dilution can occur either by "blurring" (the infringer's use of the mark diminishes its uniqueness even when there is no source confusion) or by "tarnishment" (the infringer uses the mark in a context that reflects badly on the image that the mark's owner wants to promote).
		However, the court found MTD liable for dilution by tarnishment, on the grounds that the parody's unflattering treatment of the Deere mark "risk[ed] the possibility that consumers will come to attribute unfavorable characteristics to [the] mark and ultimately associate the mark with inferior goods and services." Id. at 45.
		If anti-dilution law is to survive, it must develop a more effective safeguard against the erosion of our freedom to re-evaluate and transfigure the cultural meaning of famous trademarks and the products they represent.
	www.fed-soc.org /Publications/practicegroupnewsletters/intellectualproperty/ip010203.htm (2304 words)

	CL&M -- Can Dilution Apply to Product Design? (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-12)
		Trademark law protection may have some advantages; unlike patents and copyrights, no registration is required before filing certain trademark claims, there is no time limit to trademark protection, and the federal Lanham Act permits claims for treble damages and attorneys' fees even for unregistered marks or designs.
		Dilution evolved as a remedy to prevent the weakening of a famous trademark where the identical mark is used in an unrelated field, such that consumers were not likely to be confused and traditional infringement remedies would be useless.
		There are two branches to the dilution doctrine: (1) "blurring," which is the erosion of a mark due to another's use of that mark outside the plaintiff's field; and (2) "tarnishment," which is an unsavory use of the mark that harms the plaintiff's reputation, including within its field.
	www.clm.com /pubs/pub-1167611_1.html (2255 words)

	Trademark Law on the Internet: Will It Scale? The Challenge to Develop International Trademark Law
		Dilution is a concept of trademark law that allows the owner of a famous mark to assert an infringement claim against an entity using the same mark even though there is no competition between the two parties.
		In U.S. law, it is defined as "the lessening of capacity of a famous mark to identify and distinguish goods or services." By contrast, infringement claims are usually based on confusion or likelihood of confusion, which arises when there is competition or potential competition between two trademark users.
		Until recently, the dilution concept has not been part of the law of many countries other than the U.S. This situation is now changing as a result of certain international treaties that require signatory nations to afford dilution protection to trademark owners.
	www.isoc.org /inet97/proceedings/B5/B5_3.HTM (3748 words)

	AEJMC - 2003 Law paper abstracts (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-12)
		Dilution provides a remedy to owners of famous trademarks when others use their mark in a way that blurs or tarnishes the famous mark.
		This paper explores whether dilution law is necessary in light of the expansion and evolution of the traditional "likelihood of confusion" analysis and the law of unfair competition.
		Dilution seeks to prevent the "whittling away" of a mark’s uniqueness, even when consumers are not confused about the origin of the goods.
	www.aejmc.org /convention/03Abstracts/03lawabs.html (2187 words)

	Federal Trademark Anti-Dilution Law—A Powerful New Tool for Owners of Famous Trademarks
		Trademark dilution under the new federal law can occur even when a famous trademark is used by another on noncompeting goods or can occur when there is no likelihood of confusion between the two uses of the mark.
		Thus, trademark dilution under the new law is a powerful weapon where there is noncompeting goods or services or no likelihood of confusion between the uses of the marks.
		Broadly speaking, dilution is a weakening or reduction in the ability of a mark to clearly and unmistakably distinguish one source of a product/service from another.
	www.tms.org /pubs/journals/jom/matters/matters-9904.html (987 words)

	United States Unfair Competition Law Overview - Dilution
		s dilution claims, the appeals court examined the distinctiveness of the plaintiff's mark.
		A number of courts have held that the requisite fame of a protected mark can be specific to a market for a single good or service, rather than requiring that it exist among all consumers.
		Although §1127 broadly defines dilution as being able to occur along with infringement between competing goods and/or services, market-specific fame seems a rather expansive view of the meaning of fame under §1125(c).
	home.att.net /~jmtyndall/ustm/dilution.htm (549 words)

	Law.com
		For example, it is fl-letter law that the conditions that create diversity jurisdiction, one well-known basis for subject-matter jurisdiction, need not survive through the life of the litigation.
		If a party may waive its objections to a form of jurisdiction, it follows that the conditions that create that jurisdiction cannot be necessary in every case to a court's power to hear the case, or required to exist throughout the life of the case.
		In sum, the case law appears to be void of support for the British domain names' position, and the Supreme Court's statements in Republic National Bank seriously undermine their theory as a general proposition.
	www.law.com /jsp/printerfriendly.jsp?c=LawDecision&t=PrinterFriendlyDecisionMain&cid=1030343747923 (5028 words)

	Trademark Basics (Trademark Registration and Advice; Trademark Searches and Opinions, Protecting Book Titles ...
		Under the Trademark Dilution Act of 1995, which became law in 1996, the owner of a "famous" trademark can now stop someone from using its trademark if it tends to weaken, blur or tarnish the famous mark.
		Unlike traditional trademark law, which still applies, with trademark dilution you do not have to show any likelihood of confusion over the source or sponsorship of the goods or services.
		Under federal trademark dilution law, the owner of a "famous" mark is entitled to stop another person's commercial use of its mark that dilutes, blurs or tarnishes its "distinctive quality." Unlike traditional trademark infringement, neither likelihood of confusion, nor competition between the parties' goods is required.
	copylaw.com /new_articles/trademrk.html (3105 words)

	JCE 1997 (74) 865 [Jul] The Pathway to the Ostwald Dilution Law
		JCE 1997 (74) 865 [Jul] The Pathway to the Ostwald Dilution Law
		The Ostwald Dilution Law, defining the dissociation constant of a weak monobasic acid, or of an analogous base, was announced in 1888.
		Finally, by use of the van't Hoff extension of the gas laws to the behavior of electrolytes in solution, Ostwald was enabled to achieve his aim.
	jchemed.chem.wisc.edu /Journal/issues/1997/Jul/abs865.html (147 words)

	ExpressO Preprint Series
		Currently, famous marks are protected by dilution law, which purports to prevent a particular kind of harm (i.e., the gradual whittling away of the commercial magnetism of a famous mark).
		The article argues that this is the wrong focus of famous mark protection, because dilution is an illusory concept; it either does not exist, or it is so difficult to prove, that it is an ineffective and misleading doctrinal tool.
		The article contends that American trademark law should move from the harm-based theory of dilution law to a free rider principle that looks at just deserts -- that is, at who should be benefitting from the investment and labor that go into making a mark famous.
	law.bepress.com /expresso/eps/58 (343 words)

	The TTABlog: Still More Reading: McCarthy on Dilution
		Apparently, in such cases, mental association is not enough to prove actual dilution, and additional proof (in the form of expert testimony and survey evidence) will be needed.
		More generally, his view is that dilution law should stick rather closely to the proposal originally set forth in the seminal article by Frank I. Schechter, "The Rational Basis of Trademark Protection," 40 Harv.
		Law Rev. 813 (1927), reprinted in 60 Trademark Reporter 334 (1970): "The Schechter proposal for a new form of protection was limited to situations where the junior mark was identical, when the famous mark was coined or arbitrary and only if the uses were on non-competing and non-similar goods or services."
	thettablog.blogspot.com /2005/01/still-more-reading-mccarthy-on.html (472 words)

	Trademark Dilution (BitLaw)
		Dilution differs from normal trademark infringement in that there is no need to prove a likelihood of confusion to protect a mark.
		Instead, all that is required is that use of a "famous" mark by a third party causes the dilution of the "distinctive quality" of the mark.
		Therefore, it is possible to use a dilution cause of action against users of the same mark even when the defendant's goods and services bears no relation to the goods or services of the famous mark.
	www.bitlaw.com /trademark/dilution.html (663 words)

	A Primer on Trademark Law and Internet Addressing
		The Federal Dilution Act is similar to many of the state dilution statutes, and one court has said that it mirrors the "traditional New York dilution analysis" which allows for dilution by tarnishment or by blurring.
		The Court stated that because this is a new law and a new application of the law, Toeppen should be free to "test the waters."[77] Of course, while this argument may have worked the first time, at some time the waters will have been tested.
		As to whether use of a mark as a user name constitutes dilution, the analysis does not differ significantly from that mentioned in the last section concerning marks used as host names: there must be a use in commerce, and it must be a use that is likely to cause dilution.
	www.loundy.com /JMLS-Trademark.html (10994 words)

	Overview of Trademark Law
		Today, federal law provides the main, and by and large the most extensive, source of trademark protection, although state common law actions are still available.
		Once the prerequisites for a dilution claim are satisfied, the owner of a mark can bring an action against any use of that mark that dilutes the distinctive quality of that mark, either through "blurring" or "tarnishment" of that mark; unlike an infringement claim, likelihood of confusion is not necessary.
		Although likelihood of confusion and dilution are the two main trademark-related causes of action, there exist a number of additional state-law causes of action under state unfair competition law: passing off, contributory passing off, reverse passing off, and misappropriation.
	cyber.law.harvard.edu /metaschool/fisher/domain/tm.htm (3510 words)

	US CODE: Title 15,1125. False designations of origin, false descriptions, and dilution forbidden (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-12)
		Any goods marked or labeled in contravention of the provisions of this section shall not be imported into the United States or admitted to entry at any customhouse of the United States.
		The owner, importer, or consignee of goods refused entry at any customhouse under this section may have any recourse by protest or appeal that is given under the customs revenue laws or may have the remedy given by this chapter in cases involving goods refused entry or seized.
		If such willful intent is proven, the owner of the famous mark shall also be entitled to the remedies set forth in sections 1117 (a) and 1118 of this title, subject to the discretion of the court and the principles of equity.
	www.law.cornell.edu /uscode/15/1125.html (1705 words)

	BBC NEWS \| Europe \| Greens fear chemical law dilution
		Environmentalists have complained that a key European law on the control of chemicals is being watered down.
		The law demands thousands of chemicals undergo health tests and that they be registered in a central database.
		Some MEPs and environmentalists are also concerned that the law will fail to ensure that hazardous chemicals are progressively replaced by safer alternatives - an area unaffected by the compromise between the main conservative and socialist groups of MEPs.
	news.bbc.co.uk /2/low/europe/4440476.stm (427 words)

	Federal Dilution Trademark Law
		The Federal Trademark Dilution Act of 1995, which protects famous marks from uses that dilute their distinctiveness, even in the absence of any likelihood of confusion or competition, became effective on January 16, 1996.
		The availability of monetary relief is a striking departure from state dilution laws, which have typically provided only for injunctive relief.
		Thus, the new law renders academic the unsettled question of whether a state dilution claim can support injunctive relief against use in another state in which there is no dilution statute.
	www.ladas.com /BULLETINS/1996/FederalDilution.html (648 words)

	SSRN-Trademark Dilution in Japan by Kenneth Port
		Trademark dilution jurisprudence in Japan is in a state of confusion.
		The confused status of Japanese trademark dilution law, however, is indicative of a judiciary that is at odds with the legislature.
		To be sure, the confused state of Japanese dilution protection clearly indicates that Japanese courts do not understand the cause of action or are reticent to apply it as it is written.
	papers.ssrn.com /sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=844189 (441 words)

	Zippo Mfr. Co.
		With this global revolution looming on the horizon, the development of the law concerning the permissible scope of personal jurisdiction based on Internet use is in its infant stages.
		The object of Dot Com's contracts with Pennsylvania residents is the transmission of the messages that Plaintiff claims dilute and infringe upon its trademark.
		B. Venue Under 28 U.S.C. Defendant argues that, under the law of this Circuit, venue is only proper in trademark cases in the judicial district in which "a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred." In support of this proposition, Defendant cites Cottman Transmission Systems, Inc. v.
	cyber.law.harvard.edu /metaschool/fisher/domain/dncases/zippo.htm (4542 words)

	Journal (The Trademark Reporter) \| International Trademark Association (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-12)
		This article is a comparison of the laws that govern dilution in Europe and the United States.
		In the United States there is a confused mélange of some 35 state anti-dilution laws with the federal law superimposed on top.
		The author, J. Thomas McCarthy, is a Senior Professor of Law, University of San Francisco, Founding Director of the McCarthy Institute of Intellectual Property and Technology Law, as well as the author of McCarthy on Trademarks and Unfair Competition (4th ed.
	www.inta.org /pubs/tmr_feature.html (270 words)

	[No title]
		Dilution is a type of trademark injury that is distinguishable from trademark infringement.
		The two types of trademark dilution are dilution due to the blurring of a famous mark and dilution due to the tarnishment of a trademark by placing it in an unsavory or unwholesome context.
		Trademark dilution is a concept that has often been used by trademark owners to prevent the use of domain names as is illustrated in the preceding cases.
	www.law.arizona.edu /library/Pathfinders/sknoell/dilution.htm (3697 words)

	bIPlog at boalt.org: SUPREME CT LIMITATIONS TRADEMARK LAW (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-12)
		Perhaps the court is reluctant to expand trademark law beyond its traditional justification of consumer protection, believing that other legal doctrines are better suited to address other societal ills.
		Professor McCarthy also spent some time explaining trademark dilution theory (the idea that use of a famous mark by a third party can dilute the value of the mark even without consumer confusion).
		After the Victoria's Secret decision, dilution must be something more than mental association (e.g., “Greatest Snow on Earth” makes you think of “Greatest Show on Earth”), and something less than (and different from) likelihood of consumer confusion (which would be trademark infringement).
	www.boalt.org /biplog/archive/000606.html (387 words)

	All About Trademarks
		Missouri Trademark Law -- Chapter 417 of the Missouri Revised Statutes, pertaining to trademarks.
		Iraqi Trademark Law -- Summaries of Iraqi trademark registration requirements; a FAQ; and the text of the 1957 Trademark and Indications Law of the Republic of Iraq, prepared by Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property TMP Agents (AGIP), a Jordanian firm, with offices throughout the Middle-East.
		Guillot is a trademark attorney, licensed to practice law in Texas, the District of Columbia, and Louisiana.
	www.ggmark.com (7199 words)

Try your search on: Qwika (all wikis)