I have taught the multifactor test for trademark infringement four times now (using the 9th Cir. Sleekcraft test), and each time, some student has questioned which way the "strength of the mark" factor should cut. As a matter of current doctrine, stronger marks receive a broader scope of protection. But smart Stanford Law students who are not yet indoctrinated with longstanding trademark practices ask: in practice, isn't there less likely to be confusion with a strong mark?In their new article, The Scope of Strong Marks: Should Trademark Law Protect the Strong More than the Weak?, Barton Beebe and Scott Hemphill expand on this intuition: "We argue that as a mark achieves very high levels of strength, the relation between strength and confusion turns negative. The very strength of such a superstrong mark operates to ensure that consumers will not mistake other marks for it. Thus, the scope of protection for such marks ought to be narrower compared to merely…
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