Carborundum Co. v. Alox Corp.

145 F.2d 242, 32 C.C.P.A. 708, 63 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 146, 1944 CCPA LEXIS 128
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedJune 26, 1944
DocketNo. 4897
StatusPublished

This text of 145 F.2d 242 (Carborundum Co. v. Alox Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Customs and Patent Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carborundum Co. v. Alox Corp., 145 F.2d 242, 32 C.C.P.A. 708, 63 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 146, 1944 CCPA LEXIS 128 (ccpa 1944).

Opinions

GtAREett, Presiding Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

This is an appeal from the decision of the Commissioner of Patents (speaking through an assistant commissioner), 56 USPQ- 111, affirming the decision of the Examiner of Trade-Mark Interferences dismissing appellant’s notice of opposition (No. 21,056) to appellee’s application (serial No. 439,425) for registration of the notation “Alox” for “oxidized petroleum hydrocarbon masses in paste to liquid form,” and holding appellee entitled to the registration sought.

Appellant’s opposition is based upon its ownership, use, and registrations of a mark consisting of the coined word “Aloxite” on various products hereinafter described so far as pertinent to this case. There are five registrations of the mark, all of them antedating the date of appellee’s application.

The case is one of four oppositions (involving the same parties and the same contesting marks) which, by stipulation, were “consolidated for the purpose of taking testimony and hearing.” The stipulation provided that “a single record be accepted and used as a basis for decisions in all of said oppositions.” Separate decisions were rendered below. The other three oppositions were Nos. 20,928, 20,993, and 21,061. The Examiner of Trade-Mark Interferences sustained oppositions Nos. 20,928 and 20,993. Alox Corporation took no appeal from those decisions. He dismissed opposition No. 21,061 and adjudged Alox Corporation entitled to the registration there sought. The Carborundum Company appealed to the commission, who affirmed the dismissal of the notice of opposition but held ex fwrte that Alox Corporation was not entitled to register, apparently because it had not shown use of “Alox” on the particular goods named in the application. (56 USPQ 112.) No appeal was taken from that decision. Since those three cases are not before us, it is unnecessary to consider the reasons upon which the respective decisions of them below were based, but because of the fact that there was a consolidated record [710]*710embracing evidence introduced on behalf of both parties, it has been necessary for us to go through a voluminous record in order to ascertain just what portions of it have any bearing in this case.

We shall not forbear saying that it seems to us that counsel for the respective parties should have been able to agree upon a record containing only the matter pertinent to this case. A considerable saving in printing costs would thereby have been effected, together with a saving of much valuable time which the court has had to expend in studying the evidence to ascertain just what part of it is applicable to this case. Neither the brief for appellant nor that for appellee has been very helpful to us in ascertaining the pertinent facts. The court has been compelled to do much work which counsel should have done.

As readily may be surmised, the goods of the Alox Corporation involved in the instant case are different from those involved in the other three cases, and this accounts, in part at least, for the difference in the conclusions reached in the several cases.

So far as the marks themselves are concerned, it cannot be seriously questioned that they have a resemblance so close that if applied to goods of the same descriptive properties they would be likely to cause confusion. Hence, the only question necessary to be determined relates to the nature of the goods. Specifically, the question is whether the goods of appellant and the goods of appellee possess the same descriptive properties.

In appellant’s notice of opposition it is alleged, following the list of registrations, that:

3. Among the various products made and sold by the Opposer and its predecessor prior to the earliest date of use alleged by the Applicant have been abrasive products such as grinding wheels, sharpening stones, abrasive paper and cloth; refractory materials for use in making refractory cements, blocks, shapes, etc.; and aVumirmm oxide grain sold for a large number of specific uses. (Italics supplied.)

We do not find “aluminum oxide grain” mentioned eo nomine in any of appellant’s pleaded registrations, but it is in evidence that the mark “Aloxite” was being used on aluminum oxide prior to the filing of appellee’s application and there is evidence, as stated in effect in appellant’s brief, that the aluminum abrasive was purchased by some paint manufacturers for use in certain types of paint.

The commissioner stated in his decision:

The opposition is based on prior registrations and uses by opposer of the mark “Axolite” for various abrasive materials, refractory materials and constructions, various grinding machines and filter plates. One particular item is abrasive grains which may be mixed with grease or oil to produce grinding compounds for lapping and finishing operations, or may be introduced into paints to malee the paints more weai• resisting and less slippery. Other items are abrasive sticks in which vaseline is incorporated and abrasive grinding wheels in which grease is incorporated. Opposer, however, does not sell paints and it' does not appear [711]*711that opposer sells lapping or finishing compounds as such under the name “Aco-lite.” [Italics ours.]

With respect to the “oxidized petroleum hydrocarbon masses in paste to liquid form” the specific goods named in the particular application of appellee here involved, the commissioner stated:

These products which are manufactured and sold by applicant are base materials for addition in minute quantities to lubricants, greases, oils, gasoline, paints, and similar materials, to enhance lubrication, or to increase corrosion prevention, or both. Applicant sells the base materials only. These are sold to compounders who introduce them into the oil, gasoline, etc., to make the final products. It appears that applicant has not sold any such base material to paint concerns and does not sell any of the compounded final products. [Italics ours.]

Appellant has challenged the accuracy of the italicized statement in the above findings and contends, in effect, that some of the products manufactured by appellee are shown to have been used by purchasers of them for incorporation into certain paints. This appears to be true to the extent that a “copper salt,” produced by appellee, was advertised as being “invaluable in underwater paints to prevent marine growth on objects.” Also, it was stated in the advertising circular that such salt “may also be used to impregnate nets and cordage,” and, further, that a very cheap product as poisonous as creosote was manufactured for pilings, telephone poles, and the like. Reference was also made in the testimony of Dr. Arthur W. Burwell, vice president and technical director of appellee, to a lead salt for use on some leaded paints: However, we do not find anywhere in the record any evidence that “oxidized petroleum hydrocarbon masses in paste to liquid form” (which constitute the particular product involved in this application and the one to which the commissioner obviously referred in the challenged finding) were sold to paint concerns, or that they were ever used, or represented to be of any value for use, in paints.

So, no error is apparent in the finding of the commissioner so challenged.

It may be stated that the products of appellee having a use in paints apparently were involved in oppositions Nos.

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145 F.2d 242, 32 C.C.P.A. 708, 63 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 146, 1944 CCPA LEXIS 128, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carborundum-co-v-alox-corp-ccpa-1944.