Imagine A World Without Dilution...

Via Boing Boing: Yoko Ono is trying to prevent singer ans song writer Lennon Murphy from registering "Lennon", because it would dilutes the John Lennon trademark. Boing Boing provides a link to Ms. Ono's petition .

Interestingly enough, Lennon was such named because of John Lennon, but for a different reason than one could, well, imagine:

She writes on her web site:
"(... )Lennon is my first name by birth and I am regularly asked if I was named after the Beatle, having always replied no. My mother named me after "John Lennon that wrote songs, painted, and baked bread with his son". She named me for the man, not the pop star. "

Ms. Ono's petition cites Torres v. Cantina Toresella: in this 2004 case, the 4th Circuit wrote that " "Due respect" obligates the district court to give explicit and meaningful consideration to the bases underlying the TTAB's conclusion that the two marks were similar visually and in terms of pronunciation, and to the impact of these conclusions upon the district court's analysis of one or more of the nonexclusive factors set forth in Sara Lee ".

The TTAB had concluded "that "the use of [Cantine's] mark is likely to cause confusion, mistake or deception" and that the mark thus was not entitled to registration. The TTAB's analysis focused on two considerations "the similarity of the goods and the similarity of the marks." The TTAB explained that "[i]n Board proceedings, `the question of likelihood of confusion must be determined based on an analysis of the mark as applied to the goods and/or services recited in applicant's application vis-a-vis the goods and/or services recited in opposer's registration, rather than what the evidence shows the goods and/or services to be.'" "