Trademark Laws Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Trademark Laws - Case Study Example Given this initial interest confusion, an actionable theory, the court found that the public was likely to be confused to some extent and this was enough for the court to further find that trademarks could not be used as metatags. The ruling, however, was rather specific or limited. The facts of this case provided that the MovieBuff trademark owned by Brookfield could not be used as a metatag; however, the court mentioned several variations that would not be unlawful. First, the court noted that simply putting a space between the movie and the buff would be a lawful metatag; this would be a nearly identical use of language and protect West Coast from lawsuits. Second, the court stated that trademarks can be used descriptively in metatags and on web pages. The trademark, for instance, could be used to make comparisons or to draw contrasts. Thus, in short, the ruling was very specific in that it found the exact use of a trademark in a metatag to be unlawful while at the same time articulating a few safe harbors. The court's reasoning seems sound and persuasive.