Opinion ID: 3160389
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Strength of the senior mark

Text: “[T]he strength of a mark is a factual determination of the mark’s distinctiveness. The more distinct a mark, the more likely is the confusion resulting from its infringement, and therefore the more protection it is due.” Audi, 469 F.3d at 543. “A mark is ‘strong and distinctive when the public readily accepts it as the hallmark of a particular source;’ such acceptance can occur when the mark is unique, when it has received intensive advertisement, or both.” Daddy’s Junky Music Stores, Inc. v. Big Daddy’s Family Music Ctr., 109 F.3d 275, 280 (6th Cir. 1997) (quoting Frisch’s Restaurant, Inc. v. Shoney’s Inc., 759 F.2d 1261, 1264 (6th Cir.1985)). Marks fall on a “spectrum” that ranges, in order of increasing strength, from “(1) generic or common descriptive and (2) merely descriptive to (3) suggestive and (4) arbitrary or fanciful.” Champions Golf Club, Inc. v. The Champions Golf Club, Inc., 78 F.3d 1111, 1116– 17 (6th Cir. 1996) (quoting Induct-O-Matic Corp. v. Inductotherm Corp., 747 F.2d 358, 362 (6th Cir. 1984)). The Tri-Serve name fits best into the category of suggestive marks, which No. 15-3302 Grubbs, et al. v. Sheakley Group, et al. Page 11 “suggest[] rather than describe[] an ingredient or characteristic of the goods and requires the observer or listener to use imagination and perception to determine the nature of the goods.” Id. at 1117. The Tri-Serve name suggests attentive customer service, possibly in the tri-state area that comprises greater Cincinnati, Ohio; as a suggestive mark, it falls toward the stronger end of the spectrum we have devised. Plaintiffs do not allege that the Tri-Serve name was known to the public at large in the Cincinnati area or nationally; however, Tri-Serve customers were perfectly acquainted with the name.