Preventing Dilution of the Federal Trademark Dilution Act: Why the FTDA Requires Actual Economic Harm

Abstract

PREVENTING DILUITION OF THE FIDA identifying and differentiating products, trademarks facilitate advertising and marketing by efficiently conveying to the minds of consumers positive associations between goods and the company that is the source of those goods.° Trademarks compactly inform buyers that they will receive the same quality of products that they previously purchased from a company, ensuring them a consistent level of quality in the goods and services provided by that company."Thus, as consumer recognition of the mark and its associated product or service line increases, the trademark's value increases: it "comes to embody the goodwill built up in consumers based on their experience with [that] product."' 2If two or more trademarks in the marketplace are the same or very similar, they are likely to cause consumer confusion, especially if the marks are present in the same product or service market.Trademark symbol, or device, or any combination thereof ... [used] to identify and distinguish.., goods.., from those manufactured or sold by others and to indicate the source of the goods .... ); see also Mark A. Lemley, The Modern Lanham Act and the Death of Common Sense, 108 YALE L.J. 1687, 1695 (1999) ("We give protection to trademarks for one basic reason: to enable the public to identify easily a particular product from a particular source."). 10

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