Trademarks can be a critical part of branding and marketing for a business. They help customers recognize their products or services and set them apart from their competitors.
Trademark infringement by another business, organization or individual can damage the value of this type of intellectual property (IP). That’s why trademark infringement can be a legally actionable offense. By suing the offender, trademark owners can stop the infringement and get monetary restitution for the financial damage they’ve done.
It’s rare that a party will outright steal a trademark and use it as-is. What occurs in most cases is that they “dilute” or “blur” it. Let’s take a brief look at how that works.
What is trademark blurring?
A trademark is “blurred” when another party creates a logo, image or something else with enough similarities to the original that people easily mistake it for the original trademark. This can result in financial harm to the trademark owner. This typically results from one or more of the following:
- The trademark owner loses business to the infringer because people spend money on the infringer’s product/service rather than the trademark owner’s.
- The diluted trademark is used for an inferior product/service. This can cause long-term reputational and, therefore, financial harm to the trademark owner.
- The trademark owner’s product/service becomes less unique and therefore worth less to consumers.
Tarnishment is a type of blurring
Another type of trademark dilution that also typically involves blurring is referred to as “tarnishment.” This is when a trademark is used by an infringer in a way that is contrary to the product/service the trademark represents.
This may happen, for example, if a facsimile of a trademark owned by a toy company is used for alcohol or other adult-only products. A fitness company’s logo may be tarnished by an infringer using a similar image for its cigarettes.
Determining whether a trademark has indeed been diluted and calculating the financial damages can be challenging. The earlier a trademark owner is able to do that, the better they can prevent serious harm. That’s why it’s critical to get experienced legal guidance as soon as possible.