Stop Pooring my Coffee!

Standard & Poor's, known to many as a financial institution of some sort, has sued a Texas-based company called Standard & Pours Coffee & Stocks, which is a cafe, for trademark dilution.

As stated in an earlier post, "[d]ilution comes in when the defendant's use of a mark either blurs the connection in consumers' minds between the plaintiff's mark and the goods and services is weakened or the defendant's use tarnishes the plaintiff's mark."

Now, it's silly to think that someone is going to confuse the two. Who is going to walk into the cafe to then ask the person behind the counter for a hot stock tip? We all hope that the answer is "Nobody."

Since these marks are in different indusries (finance vs. cafes), why can this be? This mark - Standard & Poor's - could be defined as having such notoriety that it cuts across all markets and industries. Again - think of Apple. You're not thinking Apple Records, are you?

The name of the cafe had to be chosen in order to be close to Standard and Poor's and, therefore, can dilute the name of the finance company.

S&P is taking the correct action to not dilute its corporate name and identity.