TRADE MARK LAW

TYPES OF CONFUSION the classic form of confusion, a consumer purchases a good or service from an infringer wrongly thinking that he or she is buying from the trademark owner. Recall the story of Mr. Bing from the first module, and suppose that after Mr. Bing starts to mark his products with the Bing trademark, another competing seller also marks its products with the word Bing. Consumers will then continue to be confused just as the unhappy customer had been confused, namely, by buying from the competing seller wrongly thinking that they are buying from Mr. Bing. That is the classic form of confusion. Confusion can happen in other ways, however. Particularly when the second company is much bigger than the first, consumers might actually wrongly think that the first company's products come from the second, rather than the other way around; this is called reverse confusion. In either direction, consumers might wrongly think not that the two companies are the same, but that one company sponsors or approves the goods or services of the other; this is sponsorship or approval confusion. A consumer might be confused as he or she investigates a potential purchase, but not by the time the purchase is actually made; this is initial interest confusion. Finally, the purchaser of the product might not be confused at all, but others who see the purchaser's product might be confused; this is post-sale confusion. Each one of these types of confusion will be explored in this module.

ANSWER THE 4 QUESTIONS BELOW BY MATCHING THE MULTIPLE CHOICE BELOW:

1. Knee Deep Brewing Company produces a beer called "Breaking Bud," similar to the name of the television series "Breaking Bad."

a. Sponsorhip

b. Initial Intent Confusion

dC. Post-sale confusion

2. Video Busters is a video tape rental store with a name very similar to the older and more well-known Blockbuster. At either store, however, customers can only rent videos if they first establish an account at that store by filling out an application and giving a credit card number.

a. Sponsorhip

b. Initial Intent Confusion

c. Post-sale confusion

3. Oprah uses the phrase "Own Your Power" as the title of a series of events. "Own Your Power" was previously used as a slogan by a motivational speaker.

a. Reverse confusion

b. Initial Intent Confusion

c. Post-sale confusion

4. Lion Capital and Leon Capital are both financial services companies that sell complex financial products exclusively to high net-worth individuals, with a minimum investment of $1 million.

a. Sponsorhip

b. Initial Intent Confusion

C. Post-sale confusion