U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 1931

Estate Stove Co. v. Gray & Dudley Co.

Estate Stove Co. v. Gray & Dudley Co.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · Decided June 9, 1931
50 F.2d 413; 9 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 562; 1931 U.S. App. LEXIS 4490 (Federal Reporter, Second Series)

Estate Stove Co. v. Gray & Dudley Co.

Opinion of the Court

PER CURIAM.

Our opinion [41F.(2d) 462] erroneously assumed that the plaintiff (appellant) had characterized its product by the advertising catch word or “slogan,” “No, this is not a phonograph,” and thereupon held that defendant’s “No, this not a victrola,” in connection with a closely similar picture, tended toward deception, to an unpermissible degree. The fact is that the plaintiff’s advertising slogan was “Looks like a phonograph but is a furnace,” in variant forms; and in many ways plaintiff’s advertising emphasized the idea that the “Heatrola” looked like a phonograph, but really was not. In a broad way, as to the public impression produced, there is not much substantial difference between the fact and our erroneous assumption ; but defendant had a right to make this style of heater, and to use as an advertising text its resemblance to a phonograph; and, lacking that specific and unpermissible appropriation which we mistakenly found, defendant’s conduct cannot be made the basis of legal condemnation.

Our former decision must be vacated, *,nd the decree below affirmed.

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