Safeway Stores, Inc. appeals the district court’s denial of an injunction preventing Safeway Discount Drugs, Inc. (Discount) from any use of the word Safeway. Discount cross appeals, urging that this Court overturn the district court injunction limiting the manner in which Discount may use the word. We reverse and rule in favor of Safeway Stores.
I.
Safeway Stores sued Discount after it had received a dunning letter from one of Discount’s creditors and after Discount stated that it would not stop using the Safeway name until Safeway Stores opened supermarkets in Florida. Safeway Stores is a large grocery chain with more than 2400 stores worldwide. Most of its stores are west of the Mississippi. None are in the southeastern United States. It has, however, l>een qualified to do business in Florida since 1947, has been purchasing Florida farm and grove products in state since that year, and presently has two purchasing offices in state that buy $50 million in products each year. Safeway Stores has a large advertising budget but does not advertise in the southeastern United States. It registered the name “Safeway” with the United States Patent Office in 1961 as a service mark and with the State of Florida in May 1968, also as a service mark.
Discount was incorporated in late 1967. It has two small stores in Miami Beach that sell drug sundries, general household goods, and certain food items. Discount advertises locally only, although there is some out-of-state distribution of the newspapers in which it advertises. 1
*1163 The trial court, sitting without a jury, found that the two companies operate in distinct, non-overlapping markets; that Safeway Stores had made no advertising penetration into Discount’s market area; that Discount did not intend to take the benefit of Safeway Stores’ name and reputation; that Safeway Stores had not acquired a secondary interest in the word Safeway that would protect it from Discount’s use of the word in an independent market; and that there was no likelihood of public confusion of the two companies. It concluded that Discount had violated neither federal nor state trademark laws. Noting, however, that Discount could not use the word Safeway deceptively, the court ordered Discount to use only signs saying “Safeway Discount Center” in type of uniform size, on a single line, and in a style and color not confusingly similar to the type used by Safeway Stores. The court denied Discount’s request for attorneys’ fees. Safeway Stores disputes the ruling that there was no violation of federal or state trademark laws. Discount advocates dissolution of the injunction limiting the design of its signs and seeks an award of attorneys’ fees.
II.
Before we analyze the parties’ claims under federal and state law, we believe it would be useful to distinguish various uses of the word Safeway. Throughout this litigation, the parties have indiscriminately referred to the word as a trademark, service mark, and trade name. Each category indicates a different use of a word: a trademark identifies and distinguishes a product, a service mark a service, and a trade name a business.
See In re Lyndale Farm,
A. Lanham Act
The Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C.A. § 1051
et seq.,
provides that no person shall, without consent of the registrant, use in commerce any service mark if “such use is likely to cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive”.
Id.
at § 1114(l)(a). A determination of likelihood of confusion, mistake, or deception is a matter of fact that we may overturn only if clearly erroneous.
E.g., Sun Banks of Florida v. Sun Fed. Sav. & Loan,
In considering the type of mark involved, we must determine the strength of the mark, by which we mean its distinctiveness. A useful manner of categorizing marks, in ascending order of strength, involves determining whether the words of the trademark are (1) descriptive or generic, (2) suggestive of a product or service, (3) arbitrarily applied to a product, or (4) coined words.
See Tisch Hotels, Inc. v. American Inn, Inc.,
The district court made no finding on the strength of the Safeway mark. One court has found the word to be a coinage.
Safeway Stores v. Dunnell,
Discount has provided the names of a score of businesses that use the word Safeway in their names.
7
That number is, however, substantially less than in other cases in which we have found significant third-party use.
See Sun Banks, supra,
We turn next to whether the designs in which the parties incorporate the word Safeway are similar. Our determination, we note, must be based on the overall effect of the designs, not on individual features.
Amstar, supra,
We agree that the overall effect of the designs of Safeway Stores and of Discount is similar. Safeway Stores spells out Safeway in large, capitalized, block letters in its signs, price labels, letterhead, and advertising. It does use a logo of a broad S within a circle on its letterhead and at times in its advertising, and its letterhead also includes the words “Stores, Inc.” in capital letters approximately half the size of those spelling out Safeway. Neither the logo nor the additional words on the letterhead, however, are sufficiently important for us to alter our conclusion that the word Safeway is the dominant theme in any sign of or reference to Safeway Stores. Discount’s use of the word Safeway in large, capitalized, block letters on its signs, letters, and advertising is strikingly similar to the designs of Safeway Stores.
See Safeway Stores, Inc. v. Stephens,
Our third consideration is the similarity of the products of Safeway Stores and Discount. As the district court noted, Safeway Stores primarily sells groceries while Discount sells non-grocery goods. There is, however, significant overlap in each company in the goods that are dominant sales items of the other; Safeway Stores sells items, such as brooms, that Discount emphasizes and Discount sells some grocery items, primarily canned and boxed foods, that are Safeway Stores’ specialty.
Another factor the
Roto-Rooter
Court found relevant, the similarity of the retail outlets and purchasers of goods of the parties, has a peculiar application here because of the unusual fact situation involved. The district court emphasized that there was no overlap of the markets that the stores of each company serve. That finding is correct but does not constitute a complete analysis of the considerations relevant under this factor. Although each company emphasizes different goods in its stores, both conduct a general retail trade involving a wide variety of goods. This is in contrast to the situation present in such cases as
Amstar, supra,
Next we consider the identity of the advertising media of the parties. Both Safeway Stores and Discount use large newspaper advertisements of generally similar format. Although they do not advertise in the same newspapers, there would be some overlap in readers, particularly in terms of visiting tourists reading the Miami Beach newspapers.
The district court explicitly considered another Roto-Rooter factor, the intent of the alleged infringer, and found that Discount did not intend to usurp Safeway’s trademark. We do not believe the district court’s finding was clearly erroneous.
Perhaps the most important single factor of those the
Roto-Rooter
Court mentions is the presence of actual confusion.
See
Having considered the factors articulated in Roto-Rooter, we must now balance our several conclusions to determine whether there is likelihood of confusion in Discount’s use of the word Safeway. In favor of Discount is the absence of any intent to infringe on Safeway Stores’ service mark. On the other hand, we have found that the mark is relatively strong; that its use by Safeway and Discount is in similar designs; that both Safeway Stores and Discount have the same general retail operation with some overlap of goods and customers; that they advertise in the same kind óf media; that Safeway Stores does have a substantial business presence in Florida, even if not in grocery retailing; and that there is some indication, though slight, of actual confusion. Weighing these factors together, we conclude that they clearly show that there likely will be confusion in Discount’s use of the word Safeway. We therefore hold that Discount violated the Lanham Act in its use of the word.
B. Florida Law
We also believe that Discount violated Florida law in its use of the word Safeway. Section 495.151, Florida Statutes Annotated, states that any person using a mark or trade name may sue a subsequent user of the mark or name. A court may enjoin a subsequent user if it appears “that there exists a likelihood of injury to business reputation or of dilution of the distinctive quality of the mark [or] name . . . notwithstanding the absence of competition between the parties or of confusion as to the source of goods or services.” Commenting on Section 495.151, the Florida Supreme Court has noted that the statute, as its language suggests, eliminates the common law requirements of proof of competition and of confusion.
11
Abner’s Beef House
*1168
Corp.
v.
Abner’s Int’l Corp., Inc.,
We conclude in this case that there is a likelihood of damage to Safeway Stores’ business reputation. Its receipt of a creditor’s dunning letter that should have gone to Discount is sufficient testimony to that likelihood. We turn next to likelihood of dilution, which occurs when the use of a name or mark by a subsequent user will lessen the uniqueness of the prior user’s name or mark.
See Holiday Inns, Inc. v. Holiday Out in Am.,
One final hurdle remains for Safeway Stores. Although it need not show competition or confusion to prove a violation of Section 495.151, it still must show prior use in Florida.
Abner’s Beef House, supra,
There remains, however, the question whether Safeway Stores has shown use of the word Safeway in Florida as a trade name. Florida statutes provide no explicit definition of use in connection with a trade name. The implicit definition, however, is clear from the statutory definition of use of trademarks and service marks. The statutes, for example, define a service mark as a word used to identify services, Fla.Stat. Ann. § 495.011(2), and they then, as just noted, define use of a service mark as use in connection with services sold or rendered in state. The statutes also define a trade name as a word used to identify and distinguish a business. Fla.Stat.Ann. § 495.-011(6). By extension, use of a trade name is use in connection with some business in state.
See also Junior Food Stores of
West
Florida
v.
Jr. Food Stores, Inc.,
III.
Discount seeks attorneys’ fees under the Lanham Act’s provision that “[t]he court in exceptional cases may award reasonable attorneys’ fees to the prevailing party.”
15
15 U.S.C.A. § 1117. An award of attorneys’ fees is at the discretion of the lower court,
Donsco, Inc. v. Casper Corp.,
The judgment of the district court is REVERSED and REMANDED with instructions to enjoin Discount from any use of the word Safeway. 17
Notes
. The district court stated that Discount registered the mark “Safeway Discount Center” with the State of Florida in early 1968. The record does contain newspaper notices of Dis *1163 count’s intent to register the mark, but we have discovered no evidence in the record showing that Discount actually did register the mark. We need not resolve whether the district court’s finding was clearly erroneous, however, since the outcome of this case does not depend on Discount’s registration of its mark.
. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has adopted the case law of the former Fifth Circuit as its governing body of precedent. This precedent is binding unless and until overruled or modified by this Court en banc.
Bonner v. City of Prichard,
*1164
One Fifth Circuit case has suggested that a determination of likelihood of confusion is a mixed question of law and fact.
B. H. Bunn Co. v. AAA Replacement Parts Co.,
. In
Kentucky Fried Chicken v. Diversified Packaging,
. The statement in
B. H. Bunn, supra,
. Our review of district court findings on each of these subsidiary factors, like our review of the court’s ultimate determination of whether there exists a likelihood of confusion, is governed by the clearly erroneous test.
Kentucky Fried Chicken, supra,
.
See also Safeway Stores, Inc. v. Safeway Properties, Inc.,
. Two cases vaguely mention that the word Safeway has been used by many companies.
Safeway Stores, Inc. v. Safeway Quality Foods, Inc.,
. We find the additional names of these businesses significantly more distinctive than the more general additional words that Discount applies to its business name. See infra. We also find them more specialized than and less related to Safeway Stores’ retail trade than is Discount. See infra. We do not, however, imply any judgment concerning whether these third-party users are themselves illegally using the word Safeway.
. Had we held, as Discount argues, that the word Safeway is merely descriptive, it could be protected only if the word had acquired a secondary meaning peculiar to Safeway Stores.
See Sun Banks, supra,
. The parties attempted to supplement the number of instances of actual confusion with market surveys. The district court, finding the surveys conflicting and of little value, appeared to give them little weight. Its action followed the trend of cases in the former Fifth Circuit, in which market surveys have not fared well as evidence in trademark cases.
See Amstar, supra,
.
Compare Junior Food Stores of West Florida v. Jr. Food Stores, Inc.,
. The holding of
Junior Foods
was in the context of a case not arising under current Florida law. Although some portions of the holding appear outdated,
see
note 11,
supra,
the Florida Supreme Court, in a case considering use of trademarks, has since stated that the portion of the holding pertaining to the need to establish prior usage remains valid, even under present law.
Abner’s Beef House, supra,
. Safeway Stores did not register Safeway as a trade name. The provisions of Section 495.-151, unlike other Florida trademark statutes,
see
§§ 495.131 & 495.141, however, do not limit the protection of the section to registered marks or names. There may, in fact, be some question as to whether Florida law allows registration of trade names.
See
Fla.Stat.Ann. § 495.021 (giving registration requirements for “marks”) and Section 495.011(5) (defining “mark” without mentioning trade name as included within definition);
but see Junior Food Stores, supra,
. Since we hold that Discount should be enjoined from any use of the word Safeway, we need not consider the validity of the district court’s injunction limiting Discount only to certain uses of the word.
. Discount did not seek attorneys’ fees under Florida law, which would permit an award only if a statute or agreement so provided.
Rivera v. Deauville Hotel Employees Serv. Corp.,
. Since Discount is not the prevailing party on appeal it would not, in any event, be entitled to fees.
. Safeway Stores sought damages as well as an injunction in its original complaint. On appeal, however, it seeks only an injunction.
