Can Am Engineering Co. v. Henderson Glass, Inc.

620 F. Supp. 596
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedDecember 16, 1985
DocketCiv. 83-CV-0339-DT
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 620 F. Supp. 596 (Can Am Engineering Co. v. Henderson Glass, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Can Am Engineering Co. v. Henderson Glass, Inc., 620 F. Supp. 596 (E.D. Mich. 1985).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

RALPH M. FREEMAN, Senior District Judge.

This is an action for damages under Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a), arising out of the distribution of a price list advertisement or flyer for various automotive wire wheel covers sold by Defendant, Henderson Glass, in January of 1983, which contained a photograph of a wire wheel cover manufactured and sold by Plaintiff, Can-Am Engineering Co. The wire wheel cover in question has a central hub with a seven-sided polygon configuration and a rectangular box inside the poly *598 gon with crossed Canadian and American flags.

Plaintiffs three count complaint filed in January of 1983, alleged infringement of common law trade mark rights and unfair competition, in addition to the claimed violation of Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act. In its complaint, Plaintiff asserted that the seven-sided hub was distinctively associated with Can-Am as a producer of wire wheel covers.

This matter was brought on for trial on March 5, 1985, at which time Plaintiff voluntarily abandoned its claim for common law trademark infringement and unfair competition. Plaintiff proceeded to trial solely on the alleged violation of Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act.

The facts in the present case, as adduced at trial before this Court sitting without a jury, are straightforward and largely undisputed. Plaintiff, Can-Am Engineering, sells replacement wire wheel covers for automobiles on the wholesale market which are specially manufactured for Plaintiff by ITT Thompson, utilizing dies owned by Plaintiff, Can-Am Engineering (Testimony, Michael Bunnell) 1 . The wheel covers sold by Can-Am which form the basis of this dispute are designated throughout the industry as “aftermarket wheel covers.” Such wheel covers are used as replacements for wheel covers originally sold by automobile manufacturers with a new automobile and are generally less expensive than “original equipment manufacture” wheel covers (OEMs) (Testimony, Bunnell). Facsimiles of automobile design emblems are sold as decals to be placed in the center of an after-market wheel cover to make them appear to be original equipment covers (Carlton Ostdiek).

The Defendant, Henderson Glass, is principally involved in the “insurance replacement business,” whereby an insurance company refers an insured to Henderson for automotive repairs or replacement parts and the insurance company is directly billed for any such work. Henderson is also involved in wholesale and retail sales of automobile accessory parts, automotive glass products, and commercial and residential glass products. However, seventy-five to eighty percent of Henderson’s business involves insurance replacement (Ost-diek). Of Defendant’s total 1983 sales, only 2-2.2% involved wire wheel cover replacements (Ostdiek). In 1982 and 1983, Henderson Glass operated sixteen branch stores, all of which were located in Michigan. It is undisputed that Henderson carried for sale both original equipment manufacture (OEM) wire wheel covers and aftermarket wire wheel covers in its branch stores which were purchased from Henderson’s central warehouse (Ostdiek). Defendant purchased and stocked after-market wire wheel covers from a competitor of Plaintiff, Norris Industries (Ostdiek).

Can-Am Engineering Co. broke into the business of after-market wire wheel covers in December of 1982 when it received its first shipment of wire wheel covers with the seven-sided hub from ITT Thompson. The seven-sided wire wheel cover in question was first conceptualized by Can-Am in 1981 and prototypes were made some time thereafter. Can-Am completed a promotional brochure in July of 1982, which included a color photograph of a series of the Can-Am wire wheel covers that appeared to be in motion and specifically displayed the seven-sided hub now at issue in this case (Plaintiff’s Exhibit 2). The brochure also displayed Can-Am Engineering Co.’s name in large letters and indicated that the wire wheel cover was “OEM Quality” and “meets all OEM specifications.” 2 Prototypes of Plaintiff’s seven-sided wire wheel cover were displayed at a trade show in October of 1983 and approximately one *599 thousand of Can-Am’s brochures were distributed at that time (Bunnell).

In the fall of 1982, a Can-Am salesperson contacted Carlton Ostdiek, who was then the vice-President of Henderson Glass, concerning the possibility of Henderson Glass’ carrying Can-Am’s wire wheel covers at Defendant’s branch stores. Henderson did not purchase any of Plaintiff’s wire wheel covers, nor did it ever stock any of Plaintiff's wheel covers for sale in its stores (Ostdiek). Rather, Defendant stocked after-market wire wheel covers manufactured by Plaintiff’s competitor, Norris Industries. Can-Am did obtain several accounts in the Detroit area during this time frame, including several insurance glass replacement houses similar to Henderson (Bunnell). Plaintiff’s president, Michael Bunnell, contacted a local State Farm insurance agent, Nicholas George, in the fall of 1982, to ask him to introduce the Can-Am seven-sided wheel cover to his customers. 3 However, Can-Am never made any direct mailings to insurance companies to advertise its wire wheel covers in 1988, aside from one East coast insurance company (Bunnell). 4 Although Plaintiff claimed it advertised the wire wheel covers in trade magazines, the exact dates and frequency of such advertisements are unclear from the evidence presented at trial.

Sometime in the fall of 1982, Carlton Ostdiek of Henderson Glass received Can-Am’s brochure which depicted Plaintiff’s seven-sided wire wheel cover shown in Plaintiff’s exhibit 3 (Ostdiek). 5 Ostdiek gave the brochure to Trish Perez-Fresard, who was in charge of Defendant’s advertising, to put in Henderson’s advertising file (Ostdiek). An advertising file was maintained by Defendant to accumulate general ideas for artistic design to be used in Defendant’s advertising flyers (Perez-Fre-sard). Henderson’s promotional activities generally consisted of one page photo-copied flyers advertising various special sales of the automotive products carried by Defendant for sale in its branch stores. During the time in question, the photo copied advertising flyers were laid out by Defendant’s employee, Trish Perez-Fresard, and generally reviewed by Carlton Ostdiek before they were distributed (Ostdiek) (Perez-Fresard). Once the flyers were photo copied, they were mailed to various insurance agencies in the Detroit area and the balance were placed on the counters of Henderson’s sixteen branch stores for its retail customers. The yearly total advertising budget for Henderson Glass in 1982 and 1983 was less than $500.

In December of 1982, Henderson Glass decided to promote the sale of OEM wire *600 wheel covers (Ostdiek). Trish Perez-Fre-sard was instructed by Ostdiek to prepare a flyer listing the prices for General Motors accessory package wire wheel covers, or OEMs, at special prices on a rush basis (Ostdiek) (Perez-Fresard).

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Bluebook (online)
620 F. Supp. 596, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/can-am-engineering-co-v-henderson-glass-inc-mied-1985.