Opinion ID: 774295
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Application of the Nabisco test to Victoria's Secret's claim.

Text: 63 As discussed above, the Victoria's Secret mark is quite distinctive, bearing little logical relation to the goods it is used to market, women's lingerie. Thus, it is deserving of a high degree of trademark protection. More importantly, the two marks in question are highly similar. There can be no contesting the fact that Victoria's Secret and Victor's Little Secret are semantically almost identical (the Moseleys' claim that the marks are two-thirds different is particularly unpersuasive). Further, the font used by the Moseleys' mark, the small sizing of the word little, and its placement above Victor's Secret make the marks graphically similar as well. 64 Although the Moseleys asserted that they were not aware of Victoria's Secret when they named their store, their intent is relevant only to the issue of damages, which are not at issue here. Rather, we must ask whether a consumer would link a store called Victor's Little Secret that sold women's lingerie with the more famous Victoria's Secret. We have little doubt that the average lingerie consumer would make just such an association. Assuming that the district court was correct in finding that the sophistication of lingerie consumers and the differences in the quality of the products marketed by the two stores would prevent actual confusion, this is a case that highlights the distinction between an infringement and a dilution claim. While no consumer is likely to go to the Moseleys' store expecting to find Victoria's Secret's famed Miracle Bra, consumers who hear the name Victor's Little Secret are likely automatically to think of the more famous store and link it to the Moseleys' adult-toy, gag gift, and lingerie shop. This, then, is a classic instance of dilution by tarnishing (associating the Victoria's Secret name with sex toys and lewd coffee mugs) and by blurring (linking the chain with a single, unauthorized establishment). Given this conclusion, it follows that Victoria's Secret would prevail in a dilution analysis, even without an exhaustive consideration of all ten of the Nabisco factors. As did the Second Circuit, we leave their further explication for later development gradually over time, on a case-by-case basis.