What is infringement?

Trademark infringement occurs where someone has protectable rights in a trademark and a third party uses the same mark, or a similar mark, without the original trademark owner’s permission. The question of whether a third party’s mark infringes a trademark focuses on the issue of confusion. However, there does not have to be actual confusion between the marks, so the trademark owner does not need to show that the public has been confused by the third party’s mark. Instead, the central issue for trademark infringement is likelihood of confusion, so the trademark owner only needs to show that there is an appreciable likelihood of confusion by the relevant consuming public.