Trademark Infringement: What It Is, Examples, and What to Do About It (2026)

Trademark infringement occurs when someone uses a trademark — a name, logo, slogan, or other brand identifier — in a way that is likely to cause consumer confusion about the source, sponsorship, or affiliation of goods or services. The legal standard is likelihood of confusion, not actual confusion. You do not need to prove that consumers were actually misled. You need to show that confusion is likely given how similar the marks are and how related the goods or services are.

This guide explains what trademark infringement is, how it is evaluated under the law, what infringement looks like in practice, what remedies are available, and what to do if you believe your trademark is being infringed — or if you have received a cease and desist letter alleging that you are infringing someone else's trademark.

Trademark Infringement Definition

Under the Lanham Act — the federal statute governing trademark law in the United States — trademark infringement has two primary forms:

Infringement of a registered trademark (15 U.S.C. § 1114): Using in commerce a reproduction, counterfeit, copy, or colorable imitation of a registered trademark in connection with the sale, offering for sale, distribution, or advertising of goods or services where such use is likely to cause confusion, mistake, or deception.

Infringement of an unregistered trademark (15 U.S.C. § 1125(a)): Using in commerce any word, term, name, symbol, device, or combination thereof that is likely to cause confusion about the affiliation, connection, or association of the user with another person, or about the origin, sponsorship, or approval of the goods, services, or commercial activities.

The critical phrase in both definitions is likely to cause confusion. Trademark law protects consumers from being misled about who makes, sponsors, or endorses the products and services they buy. It also protects trademark owners from having their brand goodwill diluted or misappropriated by competitors using similar marks.

What trademark infringement is not: Trademark law does not protect against all uses of a similar word or symbol. Fair use, descriptive use, nominative use (referring to someone else's trademark to identify their product), parody, and commentary are not infringement — even when they involve a trademarked term. The line between infringement and permissible use is fact-specific and often requires legal analysis.

How Trademark Infringement Is Evaluated: The DuPont Factors

Courts and the USPTO use a multi-factor analysis — known as the DuPont factors — to determine whether two marks are likely to cause confusion. Not every factor applies in every case, and no single factor is determinative. The analysis weighs all relevant factors together.

The similarity of the marks: The most important factor. Courts compare the marks in their entireties as they appear in the marketplace — not side by side in a sterile comparison, but as a consumer would encounter them in the ordinary course of purchasing. Appearance, sound, and meaning are all considered. Marks do not need to be identical to create likelihood of confusion — phonetically similar names, logos with the same dominant element, or marks with the same commercial impression can all be infringing.

The relatedness of the goods or services: Identical marks on completely unrelated goods may coexist without confusion. Similar marks on closely related goods sold to the same consumers are far more likely to cause confusion. The question is whether a consumer encountering both marks would assume they come from the same source or are affiliated.

The strength of the senior mark: Stronger, more distinctive marks receive broader protection. A famous mark like APPLE for technology products is protected against a wider range of similar uses than a weak or descriptive mark that many businesses use in similar forms. Marks that are arbitrary, fanciful, or suggestive are inherently stronger than descriptive or generic marks.

The channels of trade: Are the goods sold through the same stores, websites, or distribution channels? Marks that reach the same consumers through the same channels are more likely to create confusion.

The conditions of purchase and consumer sophistication: Inexpensive, impulse-purchase goods are more susceptible to confusion than high-cost, carefully considered purchases. A consumer buying a $5 item may not notice a subtle mark difference; a consumer making a $50,000 purchasing decision is more likely to carefully distinguish between brands.

Evidence of actual confusion: While not required, evidence that actual confusion has occurred — misdirected communications, consumer complaints, market surveys — is powerful evidence of infringement. Absence of actual confusion evidence does not defeat an infringement claim, particularly for newer conflicts.

The intent of the alleged infringer: Deliberate copying of a trademark to trade on the owner's goodwill is strong evidence of likely confusion and supports enhanced damages for willful infringement.

Trademark Infringement Examples

Understanding what trademark infringement looks like in real commercial situations helps illustrate where the legal line falls.

Confusingly similar business name in the same industry: A new competitor opens a business using a name that sounds like an established brand and sells the same type of products or services to the same customer base. If consumers would reasonably assume the two businesses are affiliated or that one is a branch or spin-off of the other, infringement is likely.

Logo copying with minor variations: A competitor uses a logo that incorporates the same dominant visual element as a registered design mark — the same stylized letter, the same graphic motif, the same color scheme — even with slight differences in proportion or secondary elements. If the overall commercial impression created by the logos is similar and the goods are related, infringement may exist despite the differences.

Cybersquatting and domain name infringement: Registering a domain name that is identical or confusingly similar to a well-known trademark with the bad-faith intent to profit from the trademark owner's goodwill — through resale to the trademark owner, through advertising revenue, or through diverting consumers — is actionable under both the Lanham Act and the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA).

Keyword advertising: Using a competitor's trademark as a paid search keyword to trigger advertisements can constitute trademark infringement, depending on how the ads are structured and whether consumers are likely to be confused about the source of the advertised goods or services. This is a developing area of trademark law with fact-specific outcomes.

Trade dress infringement: Trade dress — the overall visual appearance and commercial impression of a product or its packaging — can be protected as a trademark. A competitor who copies the look of your product packaging, store interior design, or product configuration may infringe your trade dress rights even without copying a specific word mark or logo.

Reverse confusion: Typically, infringement involves a smaller, newer user trading on the goodwill of a larger, established brand. Reverse confusion is the opposite — a larger company begins using a mark similar to a smaller, established brand, causing consumers to believe the smaller brand is a subsidiary or licensee of the larger company. Reverse confusion can be just as damaging to the smaller brand despite the size asymmetry.

Trademark Infringement vs. Copyright Infringement

Trademark infringement and copyright infringement are frequently confused but protect fundamentally different things.

Trademark protects brand identity in commerce. A trademark — a name, logo, slogan — functions as a source identifier. Trademark infringement occurs when a similar mark causes consumer confusion about who makes or sponsors the goods. Trademark protection lasts indefinitely as long as the mark is in commercial use and properly maintained.

Copyright protects creative expression. Copyright protects original creative works — art, writing, music, software, designs — as creative expression, not as commercial identifiers. Copyright infringement occurs when someone reproduces, distributes, or creates derivative works from a copyrighted work without authorization. Copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years.

A logo can be protected by both copyright (as original creative artwork) and trademark (as a brand identifier used in commerce). The protections are complementary and serve different purposes. If a competitor copies your logo artwork to use as a piece of graphic design, that may be a copyright issue. If they use your logo as a brand identifier to sell competing products, that is a trademark issue. Often both claims apply simultaneously.

Trademark Infringement Damages

Federal trademark infringement remedies under the Lanham Act include several forms of relief available to trademark owners who prevail in litigation.

Injunctive relief is the most commonly sought remedy — a court order requiring the infringer to stop using the infringing mark. Courts may grant a preliminary injunction before trial if the trademark owner demonstrates a likelihood of success on the merits and irreparable harm from continued infringement. Permanent injunctions are standard relief after a successful infringement verdict.

The infringer's profits are recoverable to prevent unjust enrichment. The trademark owner must prove the defendant's gross revenues from the infringing use; the defendant then bears the burden of proving any deductions. This remedy is particularly significant when the infringer has generated substantial revenue from the infringing activity.

Actual damages — the trademark owner's lost profits or other economic harm caused by the infringement — are recoverable. Proving actual damages often requires expert testimony on lost sales, price erosion, or brand damage.

Enhanced damages are available in cases of willful infringement. Courts may award up to three times actual damages where the infringement was deliberate. A documented cease and desist letter that the infringer ignored is relevant evidence of willfulness supporting enhanced damages.

Attorney fees are recoverable in exceptional cases — typically those involving willful, deliberate, or bad-faith infringement. The Octane Fitness standard, applied to trademark cases, allows fee awards in cases where the infringer's conduct makes the case stand out from ordinary trademark disputes.

Statutory damages for counterfeiting — where the infringer is using a deliberate copy of a registered mark rather than merely a confusingly similar mark — range from $1,000 to $200,000 per counterfeit mark per type of goods or services, and up to $2,000,000 per mark per type of goods for willful counterfeiting. These statutory damages are available without proof of actual damages.

What to Do If You Believe Your Trademark Is Being Infringed

Frequently Asked Questions

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Trademark law involves fact-specific analysis — contact a licensed attorney to discuss your specific situation.

Written by Michael Meyer, USPTO-Registered Patent & Trademark Attorney, Reg. No. 78,575. Michael has been involved in over 400 patent matters and 200 trademark matters before the USPTO. View credentials and verify license.