The Scotts Co. LLC v. The Procter & Gamble Co. -Southern District of Ohio at Columbus
Split Score
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Case Summary
Disposition
Affirmed
Scotts appealed the district court’s denial of a preliminary injunction that would have barred Procter & Gamble from selling its ‘Spruce’ weed-killer, claiming the product infringed and diluted the Miracle-Gro trade dress. The Sixth Circuit held that Scotts failed to show a likelihood of success on its trade-dress infringement or dilution claims and affirmed the denial of injunctive relief.
Circuit Split Identified
Legal Issue
Whether, after the Trademark Dilution Revision Act of 2006, a plaintiff asserting federal trade-dress dilution must show a heightened ("identical or nearly identical") degree of similarity between the junior and famous marks, as required by the Sixth Circuit’s pre-TDRA precedent in Autozone, or whether similarity is merely one non-dispositive factor among several, as held by other circuits.
Circuit Positions
Heightened similarity ("identical or nearly identical") requirement remains governing standard (pre-TDRA Autozone approach).
No heightened threshold; similarity is one of several factors under the TDRA and need not be substantial.
Conflict Summary
The Sixth Circuit’s earlier decision in Autozone applies a heightened "identical or nearly identical" similarity requirement for dilution. The Second and Ninth Circuits, interpreting the post-2006 TDRA, hold that the statute no longer imposes a heightened similarity threshold and that courts should weigh six statutory factors without making similarity dispositive.