1. The act or an instance of diminishing a thing’s strength or lessening its value.
2. Corporations. The reduction in the monetary value or voting power of stock by increasing the total number of outstanding shares.
3. Constitutional law. The limitation of the effectiveness of a particular group’s vote by legislative reapportionment or political gerrymandering. • Such dilution violates the Equal Protection Clause. — Also termed vote dilution. [Cases: Constitutional Law 225.3(2). C.J.S. Constitutional Law § 818.]
4. Trademarks. The impairment of a famous trademark’s strength, effectiveness, or distinctiveness through the use of the mark on an unrelated product, usu. blurring the trademark’s distinctive character or tarnishing it with an unsavory association. • Trademark dilution may occur even when the use is not competitive and when it creates no likelihood of confusion. The elements of trademark dilution are (1) ownership of a famous mark and (2) actual dilution. But a plaintiff does not have to prove actual loss of sales or profits. Moseley v. V Secret Catalogue, Inc., 537 U.S. 418, 123 S.Ct. 1115 (2003). See BLURRING; TARNISHMENT. [Cases: Trade Regulation 366. C.J.S. Trade-Marks, Trade-Names, and Unfair Competition § 79.]
