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BY ALM Staff
August 19, 2003

Supreme Court holds that 'actual dilution' to mark needed to sustain claim

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that in order to sustain an action under the Federal Trademark Dilution Act of 1995, a plaintiff must show 'actual dilution' to its trademark, not the mere likelihood of harm. The Court noted that mere 'mental association' in the mind of consumers between two marks does not amount to dilution, but that trademark holders do not have to actually prove they actually lost sales or profit. Moseley v. Victoria Secret Catalogue Inc., No. 01-1015 (March 4, 2003).

A major lingerie retailer, Victoria's Secret, claimed an Elizabethtown, KY adult store named Victor's Little Secret violated the FTDA arguing that the name was likely to 'blur and erode the distinctiveness' of its own trademark, which is widely recognized from catalogs and stores.

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