Comments on the NOLO by Richard Stim

The courts have developed a number of additional criteria to determine when one product or service is related to another, which are used in infringement cases. These are:

• the likelihood that the goods or services of one business will be mistaken for those of the other
• the likelihood that one business will expand its activities so that its goods or services will compete with those of another business
• the extent to which the goods or services of businesses have common purchasers or users
• the market relationship, if any, between the goods produced, or the services provided, by the two businesses
• the degree of distinctiveness of the mark in question when compared to a competing mark
• the degree of attention usually given to trademarks or service marks in the purchase of goods or services of the type provided by the two businesses
• the length of time during which the allegedly infringing business has used the designation, and
• the intent of the allegedly infringing business in adopting and using the mark in question.