Trademark

(2) How do courts enforce the laws regarding trademarks? Answer the scenario below:

You are a lawclerk. Your judge has asked you your opinion on a pending trademark dispute that she read about online. The BLUEBOOK is a citation manual used by many law schools, law students, and law reviews. Any lawyer knows about the BLUEBOOK. The BLUEBOOK mark is owned jointly by the law reviews of Harvard, Yale, and several other schools. Recently, a law professor and a well-known attorney felt that they could produce a citation manual that did a better job in a more organized fashion in less space and for less cost. They initially planned to call their book BABY BLUE. After objections from the BLUEBOOK trademark owners, they decided to call their citation manual, the INDIGO BOOK.

Your judge is curious as to whether the publishers of the INDIGO book could withstand a trademark infringement lawsuit brought by the owners of BLUEBOOK. Although trademark infringement analysis looks to a long list of non-exclusive factors such as mark strength, the similarity of goods, the similarity of customers, and more, the only factor she wants you to consider is the degree of similarity of other marks. To analyze the similarity of marks, consider whether the overall commercial impression of the marks as well as the context in which they will appear to consumers. You should also consider the similarities of the marks in terms of sight, sound, and meaning. Be sure to explainthe reasons for your conclusions.