The Ninth Circuit reversed itself after Jack Daniel's, holding that Rogers cannot shield a name used as a source identifier and sending the dispute back for an ordinary likelihood-of-confusion analysis.
On rehearing, a divided Ninth Circuit held that a clearly labeled list of substitute products is not trademark infringement—narrowing initial-interest confusion for the era of online search.
Polaroid lost its 1961 infringement suit to laches—but Judge Friendly's catalogue of variables for gauging confusion became the most cited multifactor test in American trademark law.
A 1979 dispute over Slickcraft and Sleekcraft boats gave the Ninth Circuit its enduring eight-factor framework for likelihood of confusion—and a template courts still run today.
