Adidas America Inc. v. Payless Shoesource Inc. Sneaker giant Adidas once went to war with discount shoe chain Payless, and the conflict was all due to stripes. Adidas has used three stripes on its shoes since 1952, and has registered the pattern as its trademark. But during the 1990s, Payless began selling athletic shoes with a similar look. Some of their sneakers had two parallel lines and others had four. The two companies met and reached an agreement. Payless would stop selling its shoes. However, Payless brought back its striped shoes in 2001, which went against the settlement. So Adidas America Inc. took them to court. The jury trial lasted seven years. During the course of it, 268 pairs of sneakers were examined. By the end, the jury determined that Payless owed Adidas $305 million. Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog declared that was $100 million for each stripe.

Why is this case an example of trademark violation?
A) Payless made sneakers with a pattern that is similar to the Adidas logo
B) Payless hired a designer from Adidas to create sneakers for them,
C) Payless used the Adidas logo in its TV commercials and print ads
D) Payless made running shoes based on the style and design of an adidas sneaker.

Reliability and validity reliability and validity are two important considerations that must be made with any type of data collection. reliability refers to the ability to consistently produce a given result. in the context of psychological research, this would mean that any instruments or tools used to collect data do so in consistent, reproducible ways. unfortunately, being consistent in measurement does not necessarily mean that you have measured something correctly. to illustrate this concept, consider a kitchen scale that would be used to measure the weight of cereal that you eat in the morning. if the scale is not properly calibrated, it may consistently under- or overestimate the amount of cereal that’s being measured. while the scale is highly reliable in producing consistent results (e.g., the same amount of cereal poured onto the scale produces the same reading each time), those results are incorrect. this is where validity comes into play. validity refers to the extent to which a given instrument or tool accurately measures what it’s supposed to measure. while any valid measure is by necessity reliable, the reverse is not necessarily true. researchers strive to use instruments that are both highly reliable and valid.