National Circle, Daughters of Isabella v. National Order of the Daughters of Isabella
National Circle, Daughters of Isabella v. National Order of the Daughters of Isabella
Opinion of the Court
(after stating the facts as above). The bill of complaint alleges that the complainant, National Circle, Daughters of Isabella, came into existence as follows; That in May, 1897, a voluntary fraternal secret benefit organization was formed in the city of New Haven, county of New Haven, state of Connecticut, and that it adopted a constitution and ritual based upon and drawing moral lessons from the historical connection of Isabella, the queen of Spain, with the dispatch of Christopher Columbus upon the voyage which resulted in the discovery of America. That in the year 1900 this organization adopted, and that its members publicly wore, a society pin upon the face and front of which appeared certain letters and symbols by
“12. Your orator further alleges that under and pursuant to the provisions of said charter granted to the plaintiff by the General Assembly of Counecticut as aforesaid, said corporation was given power to locate and establish state and district circles, as local or subordinate circles, or other branches or divisions thereof, under the name of ‘Daughters of Isabella,’ composed of members of the order in any town or city iu the state of Connecticut, or in any other state of the United States, or in any other country,*910 and said state, district, or local circles, or other branches or divisions, when so established, to be governed and managed by such laws, by-laws, rules, and regulations as said corporation shall determine, and further providing that said corporation may enforce such laws, by-laws, rules, and regulations against any such state, district, or local circle or circles, or other branches or divisions, in any court of this state, or of any other state of the United States. A copy of said charter is attached hereto as Exhibit A and made a part hereof.
“13. Your orator further alleges that, under and pursuant to the authority conferred by said charter, your orator has established many subordinate lodges or branches in the following states: Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Indiana, Kansas, and Nebraska.”
Defendant’s Incorporation and Acts.
The bill of complaint then alleges and states that June 24, 1903 (prior to the date of complainant’s incorporation), John E. Carberry and seven others, as incorporators, were granted articles of incorporation under and pursuant to the laws of the state of New York (General Incorporation Daws [Consol. Laws, c. 23]) under the name and title “Daughters of Isabella,” which articles of incorporation were amended August 7, 1905, by which amendment the title of said New York corporation was changed to “the National Order of the Daughters of Isabella,” under which name and title it has ever since been known. The bill of complaint also alleges: That said New York corporation as originally incorporated had. no authority under its said articles of incorporation and has acquired no power since, under the laws of the state of New York or of any other state, to establish subordinate branches or lodges in the state of New York or any other state of the United States or elsewhere. That the defendant, the National Order of the Daughters of Isabella, has established in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, New Jersey, Maryland, District of Columbia, Georgia, and other states of the United States local lodges or branches of said (defendant) corporation, the members of which are women known among themselves and to the public at large as “Daughters of Isabella,” and that said local lodges or branches are known to the members thereof and to the public as “the Daughters of Isabella,” and are not known or designated by any other name, except by a distinguishing name adopted by each branch. The bill of complaint further alleges:
“17. Your orator further alleges that said the National Order of the Daughters of Isabella has designated said local or subordinate lodges or branches and claims the right to designate said local and subordinate lodges or branches and the members thereof as ‘Daughters of Isabella,’ and said lodges, and the members thereof, as hereinbefore set forth, are now known, among themselves and to the public under the name and title of ‘Daughters of Isabella,’, and claim the right to be known under said name and title, thereby causing, in all places in which your orator, in the exercise of its corporate lights and the use of its corporate name, has established local or subordinate lodges or branches under said name and title, ‘Daughters of Isabella,’ because of the identity of the name used by the subordinate branches of the defendant with the name used by the subordinate branches of your orator and the members thereof, and it has created and is likely to create great confusion and uncertainty in the minds of many persons, and has deceived and operated to induce many persons to join or treat with the National Order of the Daughters of Isabella and its subordinate branches under the*911 belief that the same is your orator, or a subordinate branch of your orator, to the Irreparable injury of your orator.
“18. Your orator further alleges that on divers (lays since the 7th day of March, 1910,. down to the date of this complaint, your orator has been requested by many persons to establish lodges and subordinate branches in a large number of towns and cities in the states oí Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota; Ohio, Pennsylvania, District of Columbia, and other states of the United States, but because of the false and willful misrepresentations on the part of the officers of the National Order of the Daughters of Isabella, and its servants and agents, that your orator was merely a local organization and without authority or power to establish said branches under the name or title of Daughters of Isabella, and was without lawful right to said title, the efforts of your orator to establish said branches under said name and title have been, and are now, and threaten to hereafter be, thwarted and defeated, to the great loss of membership of your orator, and to the further irreparable injury of your orator.
“19. Your orator further alleges that, the National Order of the Daughters of Isabella, through its officers and agents, by speeches, advertisements, arguments. the circulation of literature, and the holding of public meetings, is seeking to organize other subordinate lodges or branches of the National Order of the Daughters of Isabella within said states mentioned aforesaid, and other states of the United States, under said name and title of ‘the Daughters of Isabella,’ to the further irreparable injury of your orator.
“20. Your orator further alleges that the National Order of the Daughters of Isabella by itself, and through its servants and agents, in the states aforesaid, and in other slates of the United States, has been and is now engaged in all the ways above set forth in causing great and irreparable injury to your orator, and l)y the continued use of said name ‘Daughters of Isabella’ as aforesaid have caused, are now causing, and threaten to hereafter cause great confusion and annoyance, loss, and irreparable injury to your orator, And because of the similarity and praclical identity of the name used by the National Order of the Daughters of Isabella, and by the branches thereof, with the name of your orator, and of the subordinate branches and member's thereof, many persons eligible for membership in your orator’s organization have been, are now, and hereafter may be led to believe that the defendant is in fact your orator, to the great and'irreparable injury of your orator.”
The allegations of the complaint are largely on information and belief. The complainant lias also filed the affidavit of Josephine C. Cur-ran, the national secretary of the National Circle, Daughters of Isabella, in which she gives the -number, location, membership, and date of institution of the subordinate circles of the complainant. It appears from this affidavit that the total number of subordinate circles is 45, of which 7 are in Connecticut, 6 in Massachusetts, 6 in Rhode Island, 18 in Illinois, 4 in Indiana, 2 in Wisconsin, 1 in Missouri, and in the case of the other circles the state is not given. The earliest subordinate circles established in Massachusetts and Rhode Island were so established in 1912. The earliest circles established in Illinois were so established in 1911. The earliest circles established in Indiana, Wisconsin, and Missouri were established in 1915. Of the circles established in Illinois, 14 are located in the city of Chicago, 1 at Alton, 1 at Lemont, 1 at Odell, 1 at Collinsville, 1 at Bloomington, and 1 at Maywood. Seven of these subordinate circles were established in 1916, 18 in 1915, 5 in 1914, 5 in 1913, 5 in 1912, 3 in 1911, 1 in 1905, and 1 in 1897. The subordinate circles established in Massachusetts are located at Springfield, Holyoke, Worcester, Pittsburg, North Attle-boro, and Webster. Of the 6 subordinate circles located in Rhode Island, 1 is at Riverside, 1 at Pawtucket, 1 at Ashton, 1 at Woonsocket,
The defendant, the National Order of Daughters of Isabella, files an affidavit showing that it has 276 subordinate courts, many of which have a membership of 150 or more, and some have a membership in excess of 3'00. These courts or subordinate bodies are scattered through 33 different states, viz., New York, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, New Jersey, South Carolina, Florida, Illinois, Mississippi, Virginia, Douisiana, Oklahoma, Missouri, Indiana, Wyoming, Rhode Island, Texas, Oregon, South' Dakota, California, Massachusetts, Ohio, Idaho, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Vermont, Minnesota, Montana, Maryland, Arizona, Nebraska, and 1 in the District of Columbia. The earliest subordinate court was established in Illinois in 1905, in Massachusetts in 1909, in Rhode Island in 1909, in Indiana in 1908, in Missouri in 1907, and in Wisconsin in 1911.
The defendant in its answer denies that the establishing of subordinate lodges by the defendant has deceived and deceives and operates to induce persons to join or treat with the defendant or its subordinate branches in the belief that the defendant or its branches is the complainant or its branches. In fact the defendant in its answer puts in issfie substantially all the material allegations of the complaint. The defendant admits and avers that for more than 10 years prior to the commencement of this action the defendant, under the name of “Daughters of Isabella” and under the name of “the National Order of Daughters of Isabella,” has been in active operation and engaged in the lawful prosecution of its lawful activities, with its principal office at the city of Utica, N. Y. The defendant also files the affidavit of one Michael F.- Kelly,’who says that he has been a member of the body known as “Knights, of Columbus” since 1896, and that during the year 1901 he, with others, “conceived the idea of organizing a similar society among women of the Catholic faith, designed to promote the social and educational interests of women of the said faith, and in some degree to assist its members in a financial way as' necessity might require, which said organization would have branches in the various cities and towns of the United States and be known as ‘Daughters of Isabella.’ ” He also says that in February, 1902, it was publicly stated in the public press that such a project was on foot and that the name of the organization was “Daughters of Isabella.” He also says:
“The selection of the name ‘Daughters of Isabella’ by deponent and those associated with him,® both men and women, in the organization of said society, was had solely in view of the connection in history of Queen Isabella of Spain with the efforts of Columbus to make his voyage for the discovery of America, and without any knowledge or information whatsoever that said name was anywhere in use by any organization for any such purpose or any purpose; that in the development of the plans for the said organization in the latter part of the year 1902 there was prepared by-laws for said organization, in which said by-laws the organization was named ‘Daughters of Isabella,’ and1 in which said by-laws it was provided that such organization should comprise a central body at the city of Utica, N. X., and also branches or courts to be organized where practicable in various cities and towns of the United States and the Dominion of Canada.”
^ He also says that the aggregate membership of the various courts of the defendant is now in excess of 25,000. Mr. Kelly also says that the
It appears and is not disputed that in October, 1907, “Daughters of Isabella, No. 1, Auxiliary to Russell Council, No. 65, Knights of Columbus, and the National Circle, Daughters of Isabella,” commenced an action against the National Order of Daughters of Isabella and others in the" superior court of the state of Connecticut, county of New Haven, for the purpose of seeking a temporary injunction, and also a permanent injunction, restraining the defendant, said New York corporation, from establishing any further branches within the state of Connecticut under said name or title “Daughters of Isabella,” and also restraining all subordinate branches of the said New York corporation now (1907) in existence within the state of Connecticut from continuing to use said name or title. The action appears to have been based on the fact that the Connecticut corporation was entitled to the name “Daughters of Isabella” in the state of Connecticut in preference and to the exclusion of the defendant, the New York corporation, by reason of the fact that the Connecticut organization and corporation first took and used the name in that state. Demurrers were interposed, but the cause came on to be heard finally, and resulted in a judgment or decree against “the National Order of the Daughters of Isabella, a corporation organized under the laws of the state of New York and doing business in the state of Connecticut,” and the various subordinate circles situate in the state of Connecticut as follows, viz.:
“Whereupon it is adjudged that the defendant, the National Order of the Daughters of Isabella, and its servants and agents, be and It is hereby enjoined, under a penalty of $1,000 from establishing any further branches within the state of Connecticut under said name or title ‘Daughters of Isabella,’ and that all subordinate branches of said National Order of the Daughters of Isabella now in existence within the state of Connecticut be and the same are hereby forever prohibited and enjoined under a similar penalty of $1,000 from using said name or title, and that the plaintiffs recover of the defendants $25 damages and the costs taxed at $-.
“By the court: ' John Currier Gallagher, Clerk.”
This judgment has remained in full force and effect and has been obeyed by the defendant.
The defendant, since the commencement of the suit in the superior court of the state of Connecticut, has been active in many of the states of the United States in establishing branches or courts, and until now its right so to do has not, so far as appears, been challenged. This has not been done secretly, and the evidence now before this court, consisting of the verified bill of complaint and affidavit of Josephine C. Curran, on the one hand, and of the verified answer, supported by the affidavit of Mr. Kelly, on the other, makes it doubtful whether the complainant can show that the establishment of these subordinate courts by the defendant has been with intent or purpose to interfere in' any way with the business of the complainant or its establishment of subordinate circles. So far as appears, the defendant has operated largely and almost entirely, excluding from consideration the state of Connecticut, where the rights of tile parties have been determined, in new and unoccupied territory. Massachusetts, Rhode Islahd, and Illinois are exceptions in a way; but in each of these states the defendant first established subordinate courts. In Illinois, as early, as 1905, the defendant established courts in Chicago. The complainant established its first circle there, Calumet Circle, No. 22, November 12, 1912, and this has a membership of 285. In 1913 it established Auburn and Hyde Park Circles in Chicago, with a membership of 168 and 101, respectively. Defendant established Court 41 in Chicago July 5, 1905; Court 62 in Chicago, Ill., February 10, 1907; Court 84 at Rock Island, Ill., April 26, 1908; Court 89 at Chicago, Ill., August 31, .1908; Court 112 at Chicago, Ill., June 27, 1909; Court 120 at Chicago, Ill., October 24, 1909; Court 124 and Court 125 at Chicago, Ill., March 6 and May 1, 1910, respectively; Courts 135 and 136 at Chicago, Ill., March 19, and Mar.ch 26, 1911, respectively; Courts 143, 144, 145, and 147 at Chicago, Ill., June 11, May 7, June 4, and May 28, 1911, respectively; Court 148 at Springfield, Ill., June 11, 1911; and Court 153 at Chicago, Ill., September 10, 1911 —all prior to the establishment of any circle in that state by the complainant.
Unless the prior and first use of the name “Daughters of Isabella” by complainant in the state of Connecticut, and the want of an express provision in tire statutes of the state of New York authorizing defendant to establish subordinate courts in states other than New York, the state of its incorporation, legally debarred the defendant from establishing such courts in the state of Illinois, the defendant, by reason of first having occupied that territory, has the prior right thereto, or at least
In Salvation Army in the United States v. American Salvation Army, 135 App. Div. 268, 120 N. Y. Supp. 471, it appears that as early as 1878 the “Salvation Army,” an organization conducting a religious, charitable, and benevolent work, was organized in England. In 1880 General Booth, who organized that society, sent a small band of followers to the United States, and established a branch in the United States, and the movement gradually spread through the United States until in October, 1884, there were over 80 posts in various states of the United States, with 300 officers and several thousand members and soldiers. It spread all over the civilized world. This organization had a publication, “War Cry,” and a distinctive uniform for all its members. April 28, 1899, a special charter was granted to the Salvation Army by the Legislature of the state of New York, and all its temporalities and property were vested in such corporation. August 27, 1896, the defendant “American Salvation Army” was incorporated in the state of Pennsylvania. The members of this corporation wore distinctive unif orms similar to those of the Salvation Army in the United States,
“It is so clear as to 'hardly justify discussion that the purpose of the defendant in assuming the names ‘American Salvation Army’ for its organization and the ‘American War Cry’ for its paper, and its adoption of the military titles and the uniforms, and its whole scheme of procedure, was to take advantage of the long-established ana wide-spread public knowledge of the Salvation Army, and to receive for itself whatever benefit might flow therefrom. While its object in organizing may have been entirely laudable, its assumption of the physical attributes of Us predecessor m the field, with slight and colorable differences, was obviously an imitation, and calculated, If not deliberately designed, to deceive.”
It is already seen that in the case now before this court there has been no assumption by the defendant of the physical attributes of the Connecticut organization or corporation, and that, aside from the state of Connecticut, the defendant has been the "predecessor in the field.” Aside from general allegations in the bill, made on information and belief, without stating the sources of such information or the grounds of belief, and which general allegations are denied, and which general allegations are wholly unsupported by an affidavit showing false or misleading statements, there is nothing before this court to show fraud or deception. This court does not know what will be the proof on the trial, but as fraud and deception cannot be assumed, and must he proved, this case now stands on the fact of similarity of names, “Daughters of Isabella,” the main feature of the name of both parties, and on the prior or first use of that name by the Connecticut organization in that state solely. In all other states the defendant was first to occupy and appropriate the field and establish subordinate branches, or so-called courts. And this prior occupation and appropriation of territory has been going on for more than ten years, and for some six years since the final decision of the suit brought in the state of Connecticut, without interference or molestation, and resulting in the establishment of more than 300 courts in 33 different states of the United States, with some 25,000 members.
In Higgins Co. v. Higgins Soap Co., 144 N. Y. 462, 39 N. E. 490, 27 L. R. A. 42, 43 Am. St. Rep. 769, the court said:
“It is well settled that an exclusive right may be acquired in the name in which a business has been carried on, whether the name of a partnership or of an individual, and it will be protected against infringement by another, who assumes it for the purposes of deception, or even when innocently used without right to the detriment of another.”
This is, of course, common sense, and ought to be sound law; but it does not follow that a person, or a firm, or a corporation, may use a name as a trade, or trade-mark, or business name in a limited territory only, not extending his or its business or the use of the name
“As the common law of -the several states has the same origin for the most part, and as their law concerning trade-marks and unfair competition is the same in its general features, it is natural and very generally correct to say that trade-malks acknowledge no territorial limits. But it never should be forgotten, and in this case it is important to remember, that when a trademark started in one state is recognized in another it is by the authority of a new sovereignty, that gives its sanction to the right. The new sovereignty is not a passive figurehead. It creates the right within its jurisdiction, and what it creates it may condition, as by requiring the mark to be recorded, or it may deny. The question, then, is what is the common law of Alabama in cases like these. It appears to me that, if a mark previously unknown in that state has been used and given a reputation there, the state well may say that those who have spent their money innocently in giving it its local value are not to be defeated by proof that others have used the mark earlier in another jurisdiction more or less remote. Until I am compelled to adopt a different view I shall assume that that is the common law of the state. It appears to me that the foundation of the right as stated by the court requires that conclusion. See further Chadwick v. Covell, 151 Mass. 190, 193, 194. Those who have used the mark within the state are those who will be defrauded if another can come in and reap the reward of their efforts on the strength of a use elsewhere over which Alabama has no control. I think state lines, speaking always of matters outside the authority of Congress, are important in another way. I do not believe that a trade-mark established in Chicago could be used by a competitor in some other part of Illinois1 on the ground that it was not known there. I think that, if it is good in one part of the state, it is good in all. But when it seeks to pass state lines, it may find itself limited by what has been done under the sanction of a power co-ordinate with that of Illinois and paramount over the territory concerned. If this view be adopted, we get rid of all questions of penumbia, of shadowy marches, where it is difficult to decide whether the business extends to them.”
And in the main opinion in that case Mr. Justice Pitney says:
“To say that a trade-mark right is not limited in its enjoyment by territorial bounds is inconsistent with saying that it extends as far as the sovereignty in which it has been enjoyed. If the territorial bounds of sovereignty do not limit, how can they enlarge, such a right? And if the mere adoption and use of a trade-mark in a limited market shall (without statute) create an exclusive ownership of the mark throughout the bounds of the sovereignty, the question at once arises, ‘What sovereignty ?’ So far as the proofs disclose, the Allen & Wheeler mark has not been used at all, is not known at all, in a market sense, within the sovereignty of Alabama, or the adjacent states, where the controversy with the Hanover Star Milling Company arose. And so far as the controversy concerns intrastate distribution, as distinguished from interstate trade, the subject is not within the sovereign powers of the United States. Trade-Mark Cases, 100 U. S. 82, 93 [25 L. Ed. 550].”
In Talbot et al. v. Independent Order of Owls et al., 220 Fed. 660, 136 C. C. A. 268, it is held:
*919 “An established voluntary association for religious, fraternal, benevolent, or social purposes is entitled to an injunction against the use by another person, association, or by any corporation, of its name or emblem, and of any name or emblem so similar to it as to be likely to create confusion, or to deceive, or induce persons to join or treat with the laiter as the former, because such a use of such a name or emblem in effect; perpetrates a fraud upon the former, and upon the persons confused or deceived.”
Since writing the above the complainant has filed the affidavit of Mary U. Booth, of New Haven, Conn., and she differs from others as to the pin worn by members of the organization, and says that on its face was the figure of a bell, at its head the letters “IS,” and underneath the said letters was the letter “A,” all signifying “Is a bell.” This is different, far, from the words “Daughters of Isabella.” She says she read advertisements of social events in the public press, speaking of the “Daughters of Lsabella,” down to 1905, when she became a member of the organization at New Haven, Conn., known as the “Daughters of Isabella, No. 1, Auxiliary to Russell Council, No. 65, Knights of Columbus.” She further says that at the time she became a member in 1905, and for some time prior thereto, she knew that an organization at Utica, N. Y., styling themselves “Daughters of Isabella,” was organizing courts or branches in the state of Connecticut, and that one Wm. J. Neary, of Connecticut, and John G. Coyle, of New York City, were territorial regent and deputy, respectively, of said Utica organization (the defendant), and were active in forming courts or branches of said Utica organization in the state of Connecticut; that she has letters written by said Neary in January, 1904, to one Anna M. Ronrke, of New Haven, then secretary of the New Haven voluntary organization, asking that a committee be sent to assist in the formation of a “branch thereof” at Naugatuck. She then says that .she is informed and verily believes that the members oí said voluntary organization at New Haven did assist “in promoting-” the formation of a branch at Naugatuck, Conn.; but when the membership roll thereof was complete said branch was not in fact organized as a branch of the New Haven organization, but was in fact formed as a court or branch of the New York corporation in April, 1904, and under the supervision of the said Neary as an officer and agent of such New York corporation; that Neary acknowledged writing the letters, and that same are written upon the stationery of
The complainant has filed the affidavit of Josephine C. Curran, the secretary of the National Circle, and who knows where all existing circles are located, and I have already given the states in which they are located and the date of their organization. Mrs. Booth gives no instance where a circle, has been induced to withdraw from the complainant organization and join the defendant organization, and even if such a thing has occurred there is no evidence before this court that such action was induced by false or fraudulent representations of any character. The affidavit of Mrs. Booth, while adding information on the subject, fails to strengthen in any way the claim of the complainant to the preliminary injunction prayed for.
The final judgment in the suit in equity brought in the state of Connecticut was rendered at, the October term, in 1910, on appeal
It is not necessary at this time to pass upon the question of complainant’s laches, or its effect on the rights of these parties; but in view of the recent utterance of the Supreme Court of the United States, and of the absence of affidavits showing some acts of actual interference, or the making of some false or fraudulent statements or statement, it seems to me clear that the complainant has failed to make a case for the granting of a preliminary injunction. The action may be speedily tried, if the parties so will, and all the facts developed.
The motion for a preliminary injunction pendente lite is therefore denied.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- NATIONAL CIRCLE, DAUGHTERS OF ISABELLA v. NATIONAL ORDER OF THE DAUGHTERS OF ISABELLA
- Status
- Published