Trademarks provide legal protection for certain words, logos, graphics and other symbols used by firms for running their business. Their main role is to safeguard the consumers from being influenced by similar goods in the market. But, they also allow the trademark holder to sue anyone trying to counterfeit their marks for making personal profits.
The basic causes of action for violation under the trademark law are intentional dilution of the trademark of a famous brand or deliberate attempts to create confusion from resemblance in marks.
A trademark can get diluted on account of actions of unscrupulous persons or companies, which can reduce the stature of the firm by harming the image of the trademarked item with respect to a particular feature or in an overall manner. For instance, if the trademark of a pesticide manufacturer is identical or even similar to that of a popular food manufacturer, consumers might think that the company is moving away from its core product, which might affect its quality of products.
The infringement based on likelihood of confusion arises when two trademarks are identical or so strikingly similar that the customers can’t differentiate between them. The confusion could be related to anything ranging from the features of the product to the identity of the manufacturer. The basic reason for such an infringement is that an average customer cannot be expected to remember the exact specifications of all the products in the marketplace. In such a case, a trademark infringement would have major potential to cause financial harm to the company that owns the genuine trademark.
However, this is not an exhaustive list of the kinds of trademark infringements that can occur. One such allegation is where legal action is taken because another company is marketing its goods as if they were manufactured by the owner of the trademark. In the same way, legal action can also be brought in for unfair competition and other such claims.
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