Trademark law has sought to protect not just the company and the products that it produces, but consumers and their interest in purchasing a product with consistent quality. Permitting a company to take advantage of a well known product and benefit from its famous name hurts not just the company with the famous name, but the consumer who mistakenly purchases the product believing it is the famous brand. One problem lies in the fact that there are different types of consumers. There are consumers that are product savvy and would not confuse two similar products, but there are unsophisticated consumers who will undoubtedly confuse the two. An actual harm requirement hurts the unsophisticated consumer by requiring consumer confusion before the famous brand can ask for an injunction pursuant to the Federal Trademark Dilution Act.

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A trademark refers to the protection provided by the law for any word, name, symbol or device that is original and new. There are several types of protective marks you can apply for and each one covers its own specific area for protection.

A trademark is the mark used to communicate that the product is both protected under trademark law and is the property of the mark owner. An example of a trademark would be the M symbol used for McDonald’s products: Anything produced by them would display the symbol of protection and ownership which consumers now recognize across the globe.

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