Echo Travel, Inc. v. Travel Associates, Inc.
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
870 F.2d 1264 (1989)
Echo Travel (plaintiff) used a beach-scene photograph obtained from an advertising agency, Jiloty, in its 1985 spring-break travel campaign, and the same agency later sent the identical outtake photo to competitor Travel Associates (defendant) for its own 1986 campaign. Echo sued for unfair competition, offering unqualified consumer testimony to show the photo had acquired secondary meaning, and the district court granted summary judgment for Associates, finding the photo not distinctive, not exclusively used by Echo, and lacking proof of secondary meaning.
Whether, in determining if a mark has acquired secondary meaning, a court will look at both direct and circumstantial factors.