The legal standard for trademark infringement is “likelihood of confusion.” If consumers are likely to be confused about the source of a product, or whether a company sponsors or approves of a product, that is trademark infringement.

The use of a similar mark on a similar product is likely to cause confusion and result in a claim of infringement. Not so for a similar mark on a completely unrelated product. Trademark infringement cases most often arise when two marks bear some limited similarity and are used for products that are somewhat related. Using a similar mark on disparate products or services may present problems under other legal theories, however.

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