Blumenfeld Development Corp. v. Carnival Cruise Lines, Inc.

669 F. Supp. 1297, 4 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1577, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8715
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedSeptember 25, 1987
DocketCiv. A. 86-4608
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 669 F. Supp. 1297 (Blumenfeld Development Corp. v. Carnival Cruise Lines, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Blumenfeld Development Corp. v. Carnival Cruise Lines, Inc., 669 F. Supp. 1297, 4 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1577, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8715 (E.D. Pa. 1987).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

GILES, Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

On August 1, 1986, Blumenfeld Development Corporation (hereinafter BDC) filed a single count Complaint seeking a declaratory judgment that BDC’s use of “Carnival Club and Design” does not infringe the trademark rights of Carnival Cruise Lines, Inc. (hereinafter Carnival). Complaint ¶ 30.

On September 9, 1986, Carnival filed its Answer and Counterclaim, together with a motion for a preliminary injunction.

On September 9, 1986, the parties appeared before this court and the court decided that the preliminary injunction hearing should be combined with the trial on the merits, after expedited discovery.

After the preliminary injunction hearing, this court rendered a Bench Opinion in favor of defendant, also the counterclaim *1300 plaintiff, which opinion is incorporated herein by reference. The following amplifies the reasons already given to the parties.

II.FINDINGS OF FACT

A. Complaint

1. Blumenfeld Development Corporation (BDC) alleged in its Complaint that it was engaged in the business of providing “real estate development services” under the mark “Carnival Club and Design.” Complaint H 6.

2. It is clear that the gravamen of BDC’s claim was its use of the word “carnival” in connection with a proposed hotel to be called Carnival Club Hotel and Casino.

3. Review of BDC’s use of its alleged mark “Carnival Club and Design” shows that the word “Club” is de minimis in comparison to the word “carnival” and that the word “carnival” is dominant.

B. Witnesses

4. Jack Blumenfeld (Blumenfeld) is a principal of all of the named plaintiffs in this action and is directly and primarily responsible for their respective corporate and business actions.

5. Allan Feingold is a principal of all of the named plaintiffs in this action.

6. Andrew Sutor is the general manager of BDC’s proposed hotel casino.

7. Phyllis Kaufmann is an attorney and professional consultant who consulted with Jack Blumenfeld on the choice of a name for the proposed hotel casino.

8. Clark Doran is the project manager for the development of the proposed hotel casino.

9. Marc Orlow, Esquire is an attorney who worked for the law firm that represented BDC, Blumenfeld and Feingold personally, and the companies and partnerships with respect to the corporate matters such as the formation and dissolution of companies.

10. Joseph Fusco, Esquire is an Atlantic City attorney who represents Blumenfeld, his companies and partnerships including BDC with respect to license applications before the New Jersey Casino Control Commission.

11. Karl Spivak, Esquire is a trademark attorney who conducted trademark searches and prepared papers for filing in the United States Patent and Trademark Office for BDC.

12. Lawrence Polillo is the architect employed by BDC with respect to the proposed hotel casino.

13. Daniel O’Leary who designed a number of signs for the proposed casino, is an officer of Ad-Art, a company that designs and builds signs.

14. Thomas Falkowski works in Jack Blumenfeld’s offices on tasks assigned by Blumenfeld. These have included editing the publication “Newswire” and preparing financial packages.

15. Noel Mayo, an exterior graphics and aesthetics consultant, is employed by BDC and/or Blumenfeld with respect to the proposed hotel casino.

16. Stanley Faye, a consultant with respect to interior design, is employed by Blumenfeld and/or BDC with respect to the proposed hotel casino.

17. Thomas Powderly, a professor at Brandywine College in Delaware, teaches travel and tourism and has previously worked as a travel agent. He was permitted to give opinion testimony.

18. Lynn Stelle is a travel agent, whose principal experience has been with “affinity groups.” He has had limited experience as a retail travel agent. He was permitted to give opinion testimony.

19. Robert W. Burchell, a Professor at the Rutgers Center for Urban Policy Research, was retained by BDC for the preparation and analysis of a survey. He has had no training with respect to consumer behavior, marketing, and/or marketing research. He was permitted to testify about the survey.

20. Steven Salmore, who has a doctorate in Political Science, was retained by BDC for the preparation and analysis of a survey. He has had no training with respect to consumer behavior, marketing, *1301 and/or marketing research. He was permitted to testify about the survey.

21. Ted Arison is the Chairman of the Board of Directors and founder of Carnival.

22. Micky Arison is the President of Carnival.

23. Robert Dickinson is the Senior Vice President for Carnival who has been principally responsible for Carnival’s marketing and advertising since the early 1970’s.

24. Lawrence Winson is the General Counsel of Carnival.
25. Ellen Levenson is a paralegal employed by Carnival.

26. David Carey is a Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, who previously was a Vice President at the Scott Paper Company where he had responsibility for acquisitions, marketing and other such matters for more than 15 years. He testified on marketing, confusion regarding the subject marks, Carnival’s nationwide reputation, and the business risk to Carnival resulting from the use by BDC and Messrs. Blumenfeld and Feingold of their proposed marks.

27. Donna Thomas, President of Will Travel, Inc., a travel agency which has three offices in the Philadelphia suburbs which employ more than 30 people, of which a minimum of 16 are full time travel agents. She is also the owner-operator of the Will Travel School, Richboro, Pennsylvania. She testified as both a fact witness and expert witness for Carnival.

28. Ivan Ross is a Professor at the University of Minnesota who specializes in consumer psychology and who testified as an expert with respect to surveys and consumer psychology for Carnival.

III. CARNIVAL CRUISE LINES
A. Background and Corporate History

29. Carnival Cruise Lines began its operations in March, 1972 (predecessor Carnival), as a wholly-owned subsidiary of AITS, Inc. (AITS), a publicly held corporation that packaged group and individual tours.

30. Ted Arison was President of the predecessor Carnival.

31. The name “Carnival” was chosen because “Carnival” was used by AITS in conjunction with other AITS travel and entertainment offerings.

32.

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669 F. Supp. 1297, 4 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1577, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8715, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/blumenfeld-development-corp-v-carnival-cruise-lines-inc-paed-1987.