One of the purposes of trademark law is to permit competition on the basis of quality. Since a positive experience with a certain brand of product is likely to yield repeat business for that company's brand, the consumer can send a message about quality satisfaction to companies based on repeat sales of the lack thereof. When a company infringes another company's mark, that deprives the trademark owner of consumer feedback on the quality issue. Furthermore, if the defendant's goods are of a lesser quality, that results in harm to the plaintiff's reputation. Such harm, if it can be quantified, is compensable as a measure of damages in cases in which a court decides to award monetary relief.
