Trademark law is about confusion of the source of a good. If someone were to make a series of NASCAR products, the reasonable consumer belief would be that the manufacturer had an agreement with NASCAR and the products were somehow sponsored/approved by NASCAR.
In this particular instance, based on the limited facts provided, the client would have knowledge that the product was not sponsored/approved by NASCAR and, thus, it is not reasonable to conclude the client would suffer confusion.
It is possible to have third party confusion. A viewer of the NASCAR urn believes that NASCAR sponsored/approved the urn and then develops a negative opinion of NASCAR (because of the quality of the product or feeling the product is tacky, for example). However the damages NASCAR could claim would probably not rise to a level that would make litigation desirable. To the extent there is risk, I suspect it would relate to third party confusion.
Good luck,
Todd
Answered on Sep 17th, 2014 at 10:18 AM