Uncertain trademark infringement rules cause negotiations to break down, harming both brand owners and potential licensees. They also act as a drag on dispute resolution, compliance, and social equity. The rational response must be a call for clarity in the law.

Whether the courts’ analysis of confusion will evolve in the future depends on how quickly they can absorb and apply new research. Judges and lawyers are very busy people. They usually focus on the task at hand using the tools at hand, which is completely understandable.

This is where publications like World Trademark Review (WTR) are crucially important because they distill new knowledge and make them accessible to judges and lawyers – both digestible and within their radar.

Kudos to WTR Senior Reporter Victoria Arnold-Rees for her article “Three tips for US litigants: court rulings on likelihood of confusion unpicked,” for doing precisely that. She does an exemplary job navigating through complex legal doctrine and empirical data to offer stakeholders the most relevant and immediately applicable insights.

You can read Victoria’s piece here: https://www.worldtrademarkreview.com/article/three-tips-us-litigants-court-rulings-likelihood-of-confusion-unpicked (Subscription required) and my article here: https://bit.ly/3PO0zLr.