Patent Attorney and Founder
And the Lanham Act really is a consumer protection law meant to protect consumers against the likelihood of confusion from various trademark infringement. So, a trademark is a source signifier; it identifies a product or service. These are very important in society because when you go to the grocery store and you’re looking for Tide laundry, you know exactly what Tide looks like. It’s the big orange bottle with circles, and it says Tide. There’s no confusing it for another brand on the shelf.
If we didn’t have trademark law and trademark exclusivity, you might go to the grocery store and see a wide array of brands that look and feel just like Tide, and you might be confused as to who’s the actual provider of that service or that product. So, that’s what trademark law really is meant to do – it’s to protect consumers from confusion as to the source of products and services.