United Lace & Braid Mfg. Co. v. Barthels Mfg. Co.
United Lace & Braid Mfg. Co. v. Barthels Mfg. Co.
Opinion of the Court
(after stating the facts as above). This is a suit for infringement of an unregistered trade-mark and for unfair competition. In trade-mark and unfair competition cases alike we have to dowith the indicia of ownership, and the fundamental principle underlying both is that no person may pass off his goods as and for the goods of another and thereby work a fraud upon the public and upon his rival in trade.
This' view seqms. to me to be; untenable. The term “beaded” is no*
'The utmost that can be said is that the term “beaded,” as applied to these tips, is somewhat suggestive of their appearance. In other words, it is used figuratively. This, however, is not enough to take it out of the range of lawful appropriation as a trade-mark. Every good trade mark is suggestive; once seen or heard, its association with the product is readily fixed in the wind. If there were no association of ideas between the two, it would require an independent effort of memory to recall the connection. It is not necessary to the validity of a trade-name that it should be-utterly devoid of aptitude. It is enough that it leaves open to every one all words that are really descriptive.
[ 91 Although my conclusion is, therefore, that the complainant is entitled to an injunction to restrain the infringement of its valid trademark, it appears to' me to be equally plain that the complainant has made out a case of unfair competition. There can be no doubt whatever that “Beaded” tip laces had come to mean the complainant’s laces in the trade. If, therefore, the word were descriptive in its primary signification, it has acquired a well-recognized secondary meaning through its use by the complainant. If a name having a two-fold significance, one generic and the other pointing to the origin of manufacture, could be availed of by another without clearly indicating that the product was his, it is obvious that the right to use the name because of its generic signification would carry with it the power to destroy the good will built up by the original appropriator, with whose goods it had become associated. Such is not the law. When the secondary meaning is established, the right to use the name is primarily vested in the original appropriator. Others may. not use it at all, unless accom
The evidence leaves no- doubt in my mind of a deliberate intent by the defendant to appropriate the fruits of the complainant’s advertising. If the name in question can be said to be descriptive in any true sense, it is certainly not a necessary description for any honest purpose. The defendant never used the word descriptively, but always as a trade-name. The defendant’s imposition upon the Patent Office in securing registration of the apparently meaningless word “Nubded,” and its subsequent use of the word “Nu-B-Ded” in association with the statement that it was registered, plainly indicate its purpose. On many of its “Nu-B-Ded” laces the defendant used a white label with gold lettering, while the complainant commonly used a gold background with white lettering. Prior to the filing of this suit the complainant made laces of a superior quality only, while the defendant makes man}? grades inferior in quality and cheaper in price than the complainant’s laces. It appears to me idle for the defendant to argue that it is against the public interest to permit of the monopoly of a descriptive name, when the inevitable effect of allowing its use in the manner and for the purpose sought to be restrained will be the deception of the public and the filching of the complainant’s trade.
Decree for the complainant in accordance with the prayer of the complaint.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- UNITED LACE & BRAID MFG. CO. v. BARTHELS MFG. CO.
- Cited By
- 14 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Trade-Marks and Trade-Names A “trade-mark” is a distinctive mark of authenticity, through which the products of a particular manufacturer may be distinguished from others. [Ed. Note.—For other case, see Trade-Marks and Trade-Names, Cent. Dig. §§ 1, 3; Dec. Dig. 1. For other definitions, see Words and Phrases, First and Second Series, Trade-Mark.] 2. Trade-Marks and Trade-Names 3—Names Subject to Appropriation —Descriptive Words. As the office of the trade-mark is to point out distinctively the origin or ownership of the articles to which it is affixed, no sign or form of words can be appropriated which, from the nature of the fact conveyed by its primary meaning, others may employ with equal truth and with equal right for the same purpose; and hence words which are merely descriptive of the character or quality of the product cannot be exclusively appropriated. [Ed. Note.—For other eases, see Trade-Marks and Trade-Names, Cent. Dig. §§ 4r-7; Dec. Dig. 3.] 3. Trade-Marks and Trade-Names 93—Infringement—Sufficiency of Evidence. Where the trade-mark adopted by a party is a word never before in use. and meaningless except as indicating by whom the goods in connection with which it is nsed were made, there can be no conceivable purpose in its use by another person except to deceive; and mere proof that the 1ra.de-mark has been appropriated by another person entitles the owner of the trade-mark to an injunction. (Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Trade-Marks and Trade-Names, Cent. Dig. S>§ 101-106; Dec. Dig. 4. Trade-Marks and Trade-Names Words forming part of the common stock of language may acquire in trade a secondary signification, differing from their primary meaning, and become so far associated with the goods of a particular maker that it is capable of proof that the use of them by another, without exilia nation or qualification, would deceive a purchaser; and when such words are used to persons in the trade, who will understand them and are intended to understand them in their secondary sense, though they may be true in their primary sense, relief will be awarded against such unfair competition, by requiring the use of the words to be confined to their primary sense by such limitations as will prevent misapprehension upon the question of origin. [Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Trade-Marks and Trade-Names, Cent. Dig. §§ 4-7; Dec. Dig. 5. Trade-Marks and Trade-Names In such case, however, mere proof of the use by another of such mark or word will not in itself entitle complainant to relief, and he must further prove that the mark or word was used by defendant under such circumstances or in such maimer as to pass off his goods as the goods of complainant, and must make out such circumstances as will show a wrongful intent in fact, or justify that inference from the inevitable consequences of the act complained of. [Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Trade-Marks and Trade-Names, Cent. Dig. !j§ 104-100; Dec. Dig. 98.] 6. Trade-Marks and Trade-Names Complainant's unregistered trade7mark “Beaded,” as applied to a patented shoe lace tip, was infringed by defendant’s use of the words “Nu-be» tied,” “Nu-B-Ded,” and “Nubded,” as such words, however spelled or hyphenated, were mere colorable imitations of plaintiff’s trade-mark; the prefix “new” not avoiding an infringement. [Ed. Note.—For other eases, see Trade-Marks and Trade-Names, Cent. Dig. §§ 68-72; Dec. Dig. €=309.] 7. Trade-Marks and Trade-Names The term “beaded,” as applied to a patented shoe lace tip, a portion of the sheet metal of which was forced inward from the ojiposite sides to lock the tip to the lace, was not descriptive, so as not to be subject to appropriation as a trade-mark, where, though it was somewhat suggestive of the appearance of the tips, the tips were properly described as corrugated or crimped, and did not resemble a string of beads, and were made as they were for purposes of utility, and not for ornament, as a trade-mark may be suggestive, if it leaves open to every one all words that are really descriptive. [Ed. Note.—If or other cases, see Trade-Marks and Trade-Names, Cent. Dig. §¡5 4-7; Dec. Dig. 8. Trade-Marks and Trade-Names A person is not necessarily limited to one trade-mark, even on the same article. 9. Trade-Marks and Trade-Names 70—Unfair Competition—Acts Constituting. Even though the word “beaded,” as applied to a shoe lace tip, was descriptive in its primary signification, where it had acquired a well-recognized secondary meaning through its use by complainant, and had come to refer in the trade to complainant’s shoe laces, it constituted unfair competition for defendant, in connection with the sale of laces inferior in quality and cheaper in price, after imposing upon the Patent Office in securing the registration of the apparently meaningless word “Nubded,” to use the word “Nu-B-Ded” in association with the statement that it was.registered, and to use a white label with gold lettering; complainant commonly using a gold background with white lettering. [Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Trade-Marks and Trade-Names, Cent. Dig. § 81; Dec. Dig. @=>For other cases see same topic & KEY-NUMBER in all Key-Numbered Digests & Indexes