Opinion ID: 541778
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Whether the trial court reasonably discounted the

Text: 52 importance of the actual instances of confusion 53 shown by plaintiff. 54 With regard to the evidence produced by plaintiff of actual confusion, the trial court wrote that it is neither substantial nor especially convincing. For example, Ms. Fuerst's [from Motorola] confusion is just as likely the product of her own lack of organization as it is the similarity of the parties' names. Memor. op. at 19. Appellant cites the case of Harold F. Ritchie, 281 F.2d at 761, in which the reviewing court found that the trial court erred by discounting evidence of confusion by attributing it to carelessness of the purchaser. Appellant cites other cases in which the courts have emphasized the importance of any evidence of actual confusion. E.g., Fuji Photo, 754 F.2d at 597. See also McGraw-Edison, 787 F.2d at 1172 ( 'very little proof of actual confusion would be necessary to prove likelihood of confusion' ) (citation omitted). Of course, as appellee points out, de minimis evidence of confusion may be discounted. Union Carbide Corp. v. EverReady Inc., 531 F.2d 366, 383 (7th Cir.1976). Nevertheless, it does not seem reasonable to classify appellant's evidence--including the testimony of John Connellan and Elaine Fuerst and evidence of other phone calls from other persons confused about the identity of appellee--as de minimis, since it was not based on a full survey of customers. In other words, this is not a case in which we could conclude that there was a statistically insignificant percentage of confusion, since the actual percentage is unknown. 55 In summary, we found that the district court applied the wrong legal principles to its comparison of the parties' trademarks which infected its conclusion on that factor. We also find that the court clearly erred in finding no concurrent use between the parties' services and erred by discounting appellant's evidence of actual confusion. As a result, we reverse the district court's finding of no likelihood of confusion. 56