The cause of action for dilution of a trademark seeks to prevent an inchoate harm: the watering down, or weakening, of a trademark, i.e., its dilution. Courts and commentators have employed various metaphors to define dilution, from the “gradual whittling away” of the mark’s uniqueness, or “hold upon the public mind,”1 to a “cancer”2 or an “infection,”3 which, left unchecked, will destroy the mark. In theory, this accretive harm stems from the use of the mark, or substantially similar variants of it, in contexts that provoke association with the targeted trademark but do not cause a likelihood of confusion, and hence do not support a claim for trademark infringement.