A. P. W. Paper Co. v. Federal Trade Commission

149 F.2d 424, 65 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 382, 1945 U.S. App. LEXIS 4563, 1945 Trade Cas. (CCH) 57,376
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedMay 17, 1945
DocketNo. 169
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 149 F.2d 424 (A. P. W. Paper Co. v. Federal Trade Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
A. P. W. Paper Co. v. Federal Trade Commission, 149 F.2d 424, 65 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 382, 1945 U.S. App. LEXIS 4563, 1945 Trade Cas. (CCH) 57,376 (2d Cir. 1945).

Opinions

SWAN, Circuit Judge.

By a proceeding initiated in 1942 the Commission charged the petitioner with a violation of section 5(a) of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C.A. § 45 (a), in using the words “Red Cross” and the Greek red cross emblem to designate certain of its products. The petitioner is a New York corporation engaged in the business of selling toilet tissues and paper towels in interstate commerce. Among its products are certain brands designated by it as “Red Cross Toilet Tissue” and “Red Cross Towels”. On the wrappers of each package or roll, as well as in the petitioner’s advertisements for these brands, the words “Red Cross” and the Greek red cross emblem are prominently displayed. Toilet tissues have been marketed by the petitioner under such trade name and emblem since 1897 and paper towels since 1933. In 1911 the trade-mark was registered in the Patent Office, and the registration was extended to cover paper towels on an application filed in October 1933. The wrappers of each package or roll and the petitioner’s advertisements contain additional words showing that the goods are the petitioner’s product but these words catch the eye less readily than do the trade name and emblem.

The Commission found that the name “Red Cross” and the emblem of the Greek red cross on a white ground have long been associated in the minds of the public with the American National Red Cross and that the petitioner’s use of the words “Red Cross” and the emblem has the capacity and tendency to mislead and deceive a substantial portion of the purchasing public into the mistaken belief that the petitioner’s goods are sponsored or approved by, or in some manner connected with, the American Red Cross organization. The Commission further found that the additional words on the wrappers showing manufacture by the petitioner and registration of the trade name and mark are insufficient to correct the erroneous impression created through use of the name and emblem. Accordingly the Commission entered the order which the petitioner now challenges.

If success of the attack upon the order turned on maintaining the contention that the Commission’s findings are not supported by substantial evidence, the petitioner would fail. Whether the petitioner’s use of the words and emblem has the tendency and capacity to mislead the public presents a question of fact as to which the Commission’s judgment, if not arbitrary, should be accepted. See Brougham v. Blanton Mfg. Co., 249 U.S. 495, 499, 39 S.Ct. 363, 63 L.Ed. 725; Leach v. Carlile, 258 U.S. 138, 140, 42 S.Ct. 227, 66 L.Ed. 511; Herzfeld v. Federal Trade Commission, 2 Cir., 140 F.2d 207, 209; Zenith Radio Corporation v. Federal Trade Commission, 7 Cir., 143 F.2d 29, 31. In the case at bar the Commission’s inference is supported by the testimony of witnesses that the Red Cross words arid emblem indicated to them that the goods were in some way approved by or associated with the American Red Cross. That more careful observers were not so misled is, of course, immaterial, for the statute is intended to protect the unthinking and credulous members of the public as well as the more sophisticated and intelligent. Federal Trade Commission v. Standard Education Society, 302 U.S. 112, 116, 58 S.Ct. 113, 82 L.Ed. 141; Charles of the Ritz Dist. Corporation v. Federal Trade Commission, 2 Cir., 143 F.2d 676, 679.

Decision must turn on the validity of the petitioner’s contention that its use of the trademark is expressly permitted by the Act of January 5, 1905, 33 Stat. 599, as amended in 1910, 36 Stat. 604, 36 U.S. C.A. § 1 et seq. Section 1 of the Act created a corporation by the name of “The American National Red Cross”; section 2 defined its powers — among others, the right to use “as an emblem and badge, a Greek red cross on a white ground”; section 3 designated the purposes of the corporation; and section 4, 33 Stat. 600, declared it unlawful for any other corporation, “not now lawfully entitled to use the sign of the Red Cross, hereafter to use such sign * * * for the purposes of trade * * * ”, and made the violation of “the provision of this section” a misdemeanor punishable by fine or imprisonment or both, any fine so collected to be paid to the American National Red Cross. In 1910 section 4 was amended, 36 U.S.C. A. § 4. After declaring the prohibition against use of the red cross emblem or the words “Red Cross,” a proviso was inserted in these words:

“Provided, however, That no person, corporation or association that actually used or whose assignor actually used the said emblem, sign, insignia, or words for any lawful purpose prior to January fifth, nineteen hundred and five, shall be deemed for[427]*427bidden by this Act to continue the use thereof for the same purpose and for the same class of goods.”

We think it clear that the exception in the original section 4 of persons “now lawfully entitled to use such sign” and the even more specific language of the proviso in the 1910 amendment indicate the intention of Congress to permit the continued use of the Red Cross words and symbol to those who were lawfully using them prior to January 5, 1905. Further support for this view may be found in the committee report

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
149 F.2d 424, 65 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 382, 1945 U.S. App. LEXIS 4563, 1945 Trade Cas. (CCH) 57,376, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/a-p-w-paper-co-v-federal-trade-commission-ca2-1945.