Essential Details On Trademark Dilution

By Donna Kelly


The legal fraternity has tightened its regulative measures with effect from the past few decades. This has been enacted in the quest to provide a smooth running of businesses in the corporate world. The trademark dilution evidences it. It is a legal clause that grants a company the rights to prevent others from using their recognition mark in an approach that would adversely lessen their unique standing in the marketplace.

The law is recognized in several jurisdictions globally, though the interpretation varies from country to country as well as the resulting penalties. However, other jurisdictions do not recognize this law, but they have a similar concept to address the same menace. They recognize amortization of goodwill which provides a concrete remedy for trademark owners. This protects them from the unauthorized third-party use of the logo that might devalue the goodwill clung to a registered logo.

The sole requirement for a plaintiff to make a successful claim is that the recognition of the logo should be famous. This elucidates that; it should have a favorable public impression on its existence and should be easily recognized by consumers. This feature is central in that it dictates on the level of protection to be attached towards a well-known clause for the law awards protection in respect to its fame.

The law primarily soldiers more on the protecting the strength of any business that is derived from ownership of reputable identity. Thus, it eradicates a turmoil that might arise from the unauthorized use of a mark justifiably weakening the ability to identify and distinguish goods and services of the true mark owner. This approach gives the owner the powers to control the identity of his products in the market segment he crowns.

Similarly, the administration of the legislation is designed in a way that conveniences the affected party in a court of law. This is because it only obliges the plaintiff to ground his or her evidence on bases of likelihood on the occurrence. This approach is the most appropriate rather than founding your justification on the grounds of actual existence. This is because the latter is quite subtle to achieve and is time-consuming than the former methodology.

Besides, the law can be violated through blurring which occurs when an unauthorized party makes use of an identical or even virtually identical logo. The use of this mark might be on goods and services that are entirely different from those of the plaintiff. This form of dilution weakens the actual distinctiveness of a famous mark in a market share it dominates.

Moreover, it can also be violated through tarnishing which arises when a third party uses a well-known mark in an unflattering way. This may involve using a logo in connection with immoral contents. This is an actionable offense because it criticizes the mark of products or services. It thus degrades the hard-earned reputation of an owner. In most cases, this form of dilution may conflict with the free speech rights that are considered as fair use of the logo.

Therefore, the enactment of this legislation has been of great importance in the corporate world as it has minimized unethical practices in the realm. This is worth an accolade for it has led to a smooth flow of business activities and also has fortified the incentive to work more for the capabilities of individuals.




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