Opinion ID: 4556092
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Use “As a Mark”

Text: A defendant uses a term “as a mark” when it employs it “as a symbol to attract public attention,” Kelly-Brown, 717 F.3d at 306 (internal quotation marks omitted), or “to identify and distinguish . . . goods [or services] . . . and to indicate [their] source,” 15 U.S.C. § 1127. Whether a defendant has done so may entail an investigation into, inter alia, whether the challenged material appeared on the product “itself, on its packaging, or in any other advertising or promotional materials related to [the] product,” and the degree to which “defendants were trying to create, through repetition . . . a[n] association between [themselves] and the [mark].” Kelly-Brown, 717 F.3d at 310–11 (internal quotation marks omitted). A jury could reasonably conclude that Costco did not use the term “Tiffany” as a trademark. Tiffany’s own evidence indicates that Costco typically identifies the trademark associated with its branded products as the first word on the 34 product label. 15 For this litigation, Costco produced hundreds of examples of signs for its engagement rings, none of which began with the word “Tiffany” or any other brand name. Instead, Costco’s evidence demonstrates that it displayed the word “Tiffany” in the exact same manner (including typeface, size, color, and relative location on the signs) that it displayed setting information for other engagement rings. Costco also proffered evidence that the word “Tiffany” did not appear on any of its rings or ring packaging, and that the rings actually bore the logo of a different manufacturer. See Car-Freshner Corp. v. S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., 70 F.3d 267, 270 (2d Cir. 1995) (explaining that a defendant’s display of its own trademark on a tree-shaped car freshener suggested that the product’s shape was used otherwise than as a mark).