Opinion ID: 791756
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Strength of Mark

Text: 34 Trademarks are categorized as generic, descriptive, suggestive, and arbitrary or fanciful. See Two Pesos, Inc. v. Taco Cabana, Inc., 505 U.S. 763, 768, 112 S.Ct. 2753, 120 L.Ed.2d 615 (1992). A generic mark is the least distinctive, and an arbitrary or fanciful mark is the most distinctive. See GoTo.com, Inc. v. Walt Disney Co., 202 F.3d 1199, 1207 (9th Cir.2000). The more distinctive a mark, the greater its conceptual strength; in other words, a mark's conceptual strength is proportional to the mark's distinctiveness. 35 In analyzing the first Sleekcraft factor, the district court was presented with evidence that M2 Software first used the M2 mark in commerce in January 1992, registered the mark with the USPTO in 1994, and devoted resources to maintaining the mark. And up to late 1999, M2 Software had scant sales of its CD products and devoted a meager investment of $14,500 in direct advertising for these products. 36 The district court, when it conducted its Sleekcraft analysis, relied heavily on M2 Software's scant sales of, at most, 215 CDs, and its meager advertising expenditures for its CD products. On the basis of M2 Software's scant sales and meager advertising expenditures, the court concluded that even though the fanciful M2 mark was conceptually strong, no reasonable trier of fact could find for M2 Software on the issue of likelihood of forward confusion as to the general public. M2 Software argues that, by considering its scant sales and meager advertising expenditures, the district court erroneously required that M2 Software's fanciful mark acquire a secondary meaning. We disagree. 37 A mark's overall strength is relative and cannot be determined by mechanistically assessing its conceptual or commercial strengths. Our court has previously recognized that a suggestive or descriptive mark, which is conceptually weak, can have its overall strength as a mark bolstered by its commercial success. See, e.g., Entrepreneur Media, Inc. v. Smith, 279 F.3d 1135, 1144 (9th Cir.2002) (recognizing that an otherwise inherently weak mark may be strengthened by such factors as extensive advertising, length of exclusive use, public recognition (citation and internal quotation marks omitted)); GoTo.com, 202 F.3d at 1208 (stating that GoTo's tremendous success strengthened its otherwise suggestive mark); Brookfield, 174 F.3d at 1058 (noting that placement within the conceptual distinctiveness spectrum is not the only determinant of a mark's strength, as advertising expenditures can transform a suggestive mark into a strong mark where, for example, that mark has achieved actual marketplace recognition (internal citation omitted)); Sleekcraft, 599 F.2d at 350 (stating that a suggestive mark may be strengthened by advertising; otherwise the weak mark is entitled to a restricted range of protection). But we have never held that an arbitrary or fanciful mark (i.e., a conceptually strong mark) can have its overall strength diminished by feeble commercial success. We decline to do so today. Rather, we hold that a lack of commercial strength cannot diminish the overall strength of a conceptually strong mark so as to render it undeserving of protection. Otherwise, a mark which is conceptually strong may never have the opportunity to blossom into its full commercial potential through effective marketing. 38 That being said, we conclude that the first Sleekcraft factor weighs in M2 Software's favor, and that the district court properly considered the overall strength of the M2 mark. Indeed, the district court acknowledged that M2 Software's M2 mark was fanciful, federally-registered, and incontestable. 6 The district court then weighed the remaining Sleekcraft factors based on the overall strength of the M2 mark, and the court focused on the ultimate question posed by the Sleekcraft analysis: the likelihood of confusion as to the source of the product. 39