LAWN MANAGERS V. PROGRESSIVE LAWN MANAGERS: CONFUSING CONSUMERS AND TANGLING TRADEMARK PRECEDENT
Volume 94, No. 2, Winter 2022
A company’s trademark can be its single greatest source of “intangible value.” From 2010 to 2019, over 38.7 million trademark applications were filed worldwide. The Coca-Cola Company expressed its first trademark in 18873 and owns trademarks to “Coca-Cola,” to the graphic representation of its name, and to its bottle shape. Trademarks serve two functions: (1) identifying and distinguishing one’s goods or services from those produced or sold by another, and (2) indicating the source of the goods or services. Alongside these two purposes, trademark law has two goals: (1) protect consumers from confusion and deception, and (2) protect a plaintiff’s infringed trademark as property.