Opinion ID: 707613
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Appellate Review of Likelihood-of-Confusion Determinations

Text: 41 Whether or not there is a likelihood of confusion is a question of fact as to the probable or actual actions and reactions of prospective purchasers of the goods or services of the parties. McGraw-Edison, 787 F.2d at 1167 (quotation omitted, emphasis added). We must therefore uphold a trial court's likelihood-of-confusion determination unless there has been a showing of clear error. Sunmark, Inc. v. Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., No. 95-1017, slip op. at 7 (7th Cir. August 29, 1995); Smith Fiberglass, 7 F.3d at 1329; AHP Subsidiary, 1 F.3d at 616; Forum Corp. of North America v. Forum, Ltd., 903 F.2d 434, 438 (7th Cir.1990); Scandia Down Corp. v. Euroquilt, Inc., 772 F.2d 1423, 1428 (7th Cir.1985), cert. denied 475 U.S. 1147, 106 S.Ct. 1801, 90 L.Ed.2d 346 (1986) (question of likelihood of confusion is all fact and no law). 42 The Supreme Court recently described the clearly erroneous standard as significantly deferential, noting that an appeals court may reverse the factual findings of a district court only if it is left with a definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed. Concrete Pipe & Prods., Inc. v. Construction Laborers Pension Trust, --- U.S. ----, ---- - ----, 113 S.Ct. 2264, 2279-80, 124 L.Ed.2d 539 (1993) (quoting United States v. United States Gypsum Co., 333 U.S. 364, 395, 68 S.Ct. 525, 541-42, 92 L.Ed. 746 (1948)). 43 I am concerned that the majority has not applied the clearly erroneous standard of review in this case, but rather has engaged in de novo fact finding. In one part of its opinion, the majority paraphrases Libman's argument concerning the likelihood of confusion, namely, that satisfied Libman customers will be confused as to the source of Vining's color-contrasted brooms when they encounter them in stores that carry only the Vining broom. The majority initially characterizes this as a plausible narrative (emphasis added). Elsewhere in the opinion, however, the majority contradicts itself by deriding Libman's likelihood-of-confusion argument as pure conjecture, fetching narrative, and no better than a hypothesis. The majority's ultimate conclusion, which appears to be based largely on its own inspection of the brooms side by side, 2 is that no reasonable person would think there was a substantial danger of confusion. 44 In my considered opinion, the majority too easily brushes aside the Supreme Court's admonition in Anderson v. Bessemer City that a reviewing court may not reverse a factual finding simply because it would have decided the issue differently: 45 If the district court's account of the evidence is plausible in light of the record viewed in its entirety, the court of appeals may not reverse it even though convinced that had it been sitting as the trier of fact, it would have weighed the evidence differently. Where there are two permissible views of the evidence, the factfinder's choice between them cannot be clearly erroneous. 46 470 U.S. 564, 573-74, 105 S.Ct. 1504, 1511-12, 84 L.Ed.2d 518 (1985) (emphasis added); see also Dugan v. United States, 18 F.3d 460, 463 (7th Cir.1994) (the function of the appeals court is not to reweigh evidence or to substitute its own judgement for that of the trier of fact). Clear error is the standard of review, as Anderson teaches, even when a district court's findings rest not on credibility determinations, but on physical or documentary evidence. Id. at 574, 105 S.Ct. at 1512; see also Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a). It is important for us to apply the clearly erroneous standard properly and consistently when we are called upon to review factual findings. As Chief Judge Posner has himself reminded us, district judges are specialists in finding facts, as we are not, and ... our primary function, which is to maintain the uniformity and coherence of the law, is not engaged by a judgement so dependent on the specific circumstances of each case. Brock v. TIC International Corp., 785 F.2d 168, 171 (7th Cir.1986) (emphasis added). When appellate courts intrude on the fact-finding role of the district courts, they undermine the legitimacy of trial courts in the eyes of litigants, multiply appeals by encouraging appellate re-trial of factual issues, and needlessly reallocate judicial authority. Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a) Advisory Committee's Note (1985 amendment). 47 These observations apply with particular force in the area of trademark infringement, which is highly fact-specific. See Patricia J. Kaeding, Clearly Erroneous Review of Mixed Questions of Law and Fact: The Likelihood of Confusion Determination in Trademark Law, 59 U.Chi.L.Rev. 1291, 1309-1310 (Summer 1992) (deferential review promotes judicial accuracy and the efficient use of appellate resources because fact-specific issues ... can be determined with the same, or nearly the same, degree of consistency at the trial level.). In the Scandia case, this court considered and rejected an appellant's argument that we should review de novo a district court's conclusion that two business logos were confusingly similar. We noted that: 48 The district judge is manager of the entire swirl of facts, and the clearly erroneous rule is based in substantial measure on a belief that because appellate courts never are in a better position than the district court [to evaluate factual issues], and often are in a worse one, a substitution of judgement would increase the randomness of the process without increasing accuracy over the run of cases. 'Duplication of the trial judge's efforts in the court of appeals would very likely contribute only negligibly to the accuracy of fact determination at a huge cost in diversion of judicial resources.' 49 Scandia, 772 F.2d at 1428 (quoting Anderson ). 50 It seems to me that the majority, contrary to our own precedent, has evaluated the likelihood of confusion afresh and substituted its own judgement for that of the district court. My colleagues are too willing to revisit factual issues: not just the ultimate factual issue in this case (likelihood of confusion), but subsidiary findings on issues such as the strength of Libman's mark and the similarity of the broom designs. The district court found that Libman's use of contrasting colors was the distinguishing feature of its trademark and that this mark was, at a minimum, strong enough to be protectable under the trademark law. The majority apparently disagrees, and (oblivious to the large amount of money Libman spent to develop, market, and advertise its color-contrasted brooms) disparages the mark as a thin one, a rather commonplace design, and merely a way ... of jazzing up the humblest of utilitarian products. 51 The majority also disagrees with the district court's finding that Vining's adoption of a color-contrasted design made its broom similar to Libman's, even though Vining used a different pair of contrasting colors. However, as the majority concedes (at least in one part of its opinion), this is a plausible finding. It is not as though the trial judge concluded that Lake Michigan and the Sahara Desert are confusingly similar because they are both large. In other words, although I happen to agree with the trial court's finding, my agreement or disagreement is beside the point. The court's clearly-stated finding of similarity is not so tenuous that it should leave any of the members of this panel with a definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed. The same is true of the district judge's ultimate determination that ordinary purchasers were likely to be confused as to the source of Vining's brooms. 52 The clearly erroneous standard, as Chief Judge Posner has observed, requires us appellate judges to distinguish between the situation in which we think that if we had been the trier of fact we would have decided the case differently and the situation in which we are firmly convinced that we would have done so. Carr v. Allison Gas Turbine Div., General Motors Corp., 32 F.3d 1007 (7th Cir.1994). Lacking the firm conviction required by the clearly erroneous standard, I must respectfully dissent. 53 In my view, the majority opinion is likely to confuse the law of trademark infringement in this circuit by giving too much analytical weight to the actual confusion factor and by encroaching on the fact-finding role of the district court. I therefore dissent and state for the record that I would affirm the district court.