Baldwin Cooke Company v. Keith Clark, Inc.

383 F. Supp. 650, 183 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 209, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8117
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedJune 12, 1974
Docket73 C 1244
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 383 F. Supp. 650 (Baldwin Cooke Company v. Keith Clark, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Baldwin Cooke Company v. Keith Clark, Inc., 383 F. Supp. 650, 183 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 209, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8117 (N.D. Ill. 1974).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

MARSHALL, District Judge.

This action is brought by Baldwin Cooke Company, an Illinois corporation, against Keith Clark, Inc., incorporated under the laws of Puerto Rico, pursuant to the copyright laws of the United States. 17 U.S.C. § 1 et seq. Baldwin Cooke seeks relief pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 101. 1 Jurisdiction is founded upon 28 U.S.C. § 1338(a).

The parties have submitted the case for decision on a stipulated record and briefs.

*652 THE PARTIES

Plaintiff, Baldwin Cooke, is engaged in the publishing and marketing of advertising specialties and business gifts. All of its products are marketed by mail order. Among its products is the “Executive Planner.”

Defendant, Keith Clark, is engaged in the business of designing, manufacturing and selling commercial desk calendar pads, diaries, planning books and advertising specialty items. Its products are marketed under a number of trademarks, one of which is “Guilford.”

Baldwin Cooke contends that Keith Clark infringed the copyright on its “Executive Planner” as a result of the publication by Keith Clark of the “Guilford No. 545-Executive Weekly Minder.”

THE EXECUTIVE PLANNER

In 1961 Eaton Paper Corporation, a Delaware corporation, originated and developed a planning book entitled “Executive Planner.” It was a 144-page book designed as a combined calendar, appointment, diary and information book with special features for business executives. Eaton published the first edition of the Executive Planner on July 21, 1961 with a notice of copyright thereon. Eaton subsequently published annual editions of the Executive Planner for the years 1963 through 1968 with notices of copyright on each edition. For the most part the 1962 through 1968 editions of the Executive Planner were distributed exclusively by Baldwin Cooke.

In January of 1968, all of the assets of Eaton were acquired by Textron, Inc., a Delaware corporation. A written assignment was executed on March 18, 1968 effecting a transfer from Eaton to Textron of all copyrights from the 1962 through 1968 editions of the Executive Planner. Simultaneously another written assignment was executed by Tex-tron, which transferred Textron’s rights in the copyrights for the 1962 through 1968 editions of the Executive Planner to Baldwin Cooke. These assignments were recorded in the copyright office on April 2, 1968. Thereafter the annual editions of the Executive Planner were published and distributed exclusively by Baldwin Cooke, the new copyright proprietor. 2

On March 9, 1973 applications for the registration of the copyrights on the 1962 through 1973 editions of the Executive Planner were filed in the copyright office together with the requisite copies of each edition. For the 1962 through 1968 editions, applications were filed by and certificates of registration were issued in the name of Eaton. For the 1969 through 1973 editions, the applications were filed by and the certificates of registration issued in the name of Baldwin Cooke. Subsequently, the copyright assignments which had been previously recorded on April 2, 1968, were again recorded in the copyright office on May 7, 1973, giving Baldwin Cooke ownership of all of the copyrights on the Executive Planner.

Basically, the Executive Planner is a combination calendar, appointment, diary and information book. Eaton began work on the Executive Planner in 1961 when it initiated the development of a format for the first edition. The first edition contained a section setting forth a diary calendar for the current year, the form of which was intended to allow the recording of various data and information; a planning calendar for the subsequent year; a page with three full tabular calendars for the preceding, current and subsequent years; a section for the recording of names, addresses and telephone numbers with a map of the United States showing the applicable telephone area codes; and a section containing various business and recreational information. 3 The art work and the *653 layout which consisted of woodcuts placed on the outer corners of the diary pages for the current year along with six small consecutive monthly calendars running horizontally across the top of the diary pages, and the compilations of information for the first edition were done by Eaton. The information, data and other materials utilized in the first edition were compiled from a number of different sources. 4

Eaton made very few changes in the Executive Planner from 1962 through 1968. Indeed, the 1969 issue of the Executive Planner, the first issue published by Baldwin Cooke, closely followed the style of the 1968 issue. However, in 1968, Baldwin Cooke undertook an extensive study of the Executive Planner including interviews with many customers, and as a result, a number of changes were made in the 1970 issue. These changes included a different presentation style for certain sections including the addition of what plaintiff claims are “esthetic lines” to the diary pages, color art work on all “data” or information pages, a new style of cover, a new separate addresses and telephone numbers insert, a new personal data page, a new holiday page, new monthly and yearly expense summary pages, a new automobile mileage section and a new “dates to remember” section. In the 1972 edition, published in 1971, the Zodiac birthday and anniversary gift information page was added.

THE GUILFORD NO. 545 — EXECUTIVE WEEKLY MINDER

Keith Clark was formed in 1923 at which time its primary business activity consisted of the design, manufacture and sale of desk planning calendars for the office supply industry. In 1954 Keith Clark commenced the design, manufacture and sale of diaries and planning books for the advertising specialty industry. Keith Clark introduced to the commercial stationery and department store trade in 1970 its Guilford line of products for the calendar year 1971. The Guilford line consisted of various types of appointment and planning books.

Soon after the Guilford line was introduced to the trade, Keith Clark was advised by certain of its advertising specialty distributors and retail outlets that there was a demand for a planning book of greater trade utility that would compete with the more sophisticated and comprehensive planning books published by other diary manufacturers such as Baldwin Cooke. In response to this demand, preliminary discussions took place among the Keith Clark art and marketing directors and certain of its officers. As a result of these discussions, Keith Clark decided to produce the Guilford No. 545 — Executive Weekly Minder.

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383 F. Supp. 650, 183 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 209, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8117, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/baldwin-cooke-company-v-keith-clark-inc-ilnd-1974.