When shopping for watches on Amazon.com, you might be surprised to find that a search for the luxury military-style watch “mtm special ops” brings you to a list of watches designed by competitors of Multi Time Machine, Inc. (MTM). According to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, this practice does not infringe on MTM’s trademark rights. The 9th Circuit appellate panel reversed its own decision In Multi Time Machine, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc.; Amazon Services, LLC, published last Wednesday. In issuing summary judgment in favor of Amazon, the court held that no reasonable trier of fact could conclude that a likelihood of confusion existed based on the layout of Amazon’s search results page. From the watchmaker’s perspective, Amazon’s search results created “initial interest confusion” that generated awareness of competitors’ products. Initial interest confusion may damage sales by taking advantage of a…
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