BizTech Law Blog

Trademark infringement is a reoccurring problem for many businesses.  Recently, Apple, Inc. was denied an injunction prohibiting Amazon.com from using its mark: "App Store." Amazon.com utilized the name "Amazon Appstore for Android."  Despite similarities between the parties' marks and services, the court found that a likelihood of confusion did not exist and Amazon.com did not infringe on Apple's mark.

With that in mind, let's take a look at the basic elements regarding trademark infringement.

Let's take a look at a common scenario.  An employee named Ted leaves a company, let's say "Company A," and goes to work for another company in the same industry – "Company B."  While employed by Company A, Ted worked on key projects and had access to and developed many new and creative concepts.  When Ted joins Company B, he implements many of the new and creative concepts he helped develop while working for Company A.  Company B later commercializes some of these concepts developed and brought over by Ted.  Company A then sues Company B, claiming misappropriation of trade secrets.  A trade secret, of course, is any information that has economic value because it is not generally known to the public and is subject to efforts to keep the information secret.  This scenario is common - the characters in the real life saga of Mattel v MGA Entertainment are not.