Centaur Co. v. Heinsfurter

84 F. 955, 28 C.C.A. 581, 1898 U.S. App. LEXIS 1982
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 10, 1898
DocketNo. 899
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 84 F. 955 (Centaur Co. v. Heinsfurter) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Centaur Co. v. Heinsfurter, 84 F. 955, 28 C.C.A. 581, 1898 U.S. App. LEXIS 1982 (8th Cir. 1898).

Opinion

BREWER, Circuit Justice,

after stating the case as above, delivered the opinion of the court.

This case turns upon the question whether the plaintiff has an exclusive right to the use of the word “Castoria” as a trade-mark; for, except by the use. of that word, there is no evidence in the record of . anything done by defendants calculated to- mislead purchasers into the supposition that they are buying an article manufactured by the plaintiff. On the contrary, the circulars sent out by the defendants call attention to the fact that they are the only parties manufacturing Castoria according to the original formula of Dr. Pitcher, and, though not in terms naming the plaintiff, yet, as it was the only other party engaged in the manufacture and sale of Castoria, plainly casting reflections upon it, as not giving to the public a genuine article. In other words, the defendants went into the market, representing themselves as manufacturing and selling Castoria, and declaring that that which they manufactured was the only genuine Castoria; that all other manufactures placed on the market were spurious. So that it cannot be pretended that they were deceiving the public with the idea that the article which they manufactured and sold was something manufactured and sold by plaintiff, unless that deception resulted from the use of the word “Castoria.” Hence, if the defendants had a right to use the word “Castoria,” as descriptive of the article'which they were manufacturing and selling, there can be no doubt that the decree was rightly entered in their favor. Whether the defendants had a right to use this name depends on the further question whether the word “Castoria” is the generic name of the thing manufactured and sold, or is a mark or name used to distinguish one party by whom the thing is manufactured and sold from all other manufacturers of that thing. The relation of the patent to this matter must be first considered. In 1868 Dr. Pitcher compounded a, medicine, composed of various ingredients, according to a certain formula which he invented and discovered. For this invention and discovery he obtained a patent, which gave to him the exclusive right of making, using, and selling this new medicine. During the life of that patent he alone, or his successors in interest, had the right to manufacture and sell that medicine, by whatsoever name it might be calléd. The patent gave no right to any particular name, but simply to the exclusive manufacture and sale. All such rights expired in 1885, and from that time forth any party has had a right to manufacture and sell that particular compound, and also a right to manufacture and sell it under the name by which it has [957]*957become generally known to the public; and, if to that public the article has become generally known only by a single name, that name must be considered as descriptive of the thing manufactured, and not of the manufacturer. It is true that during the life of a patent the name of the thing may also be indicative of the manufacturer, because the thing can then be manufactured only by the single person; but, when the right to manufacture and sell becomes universal, the right to the use of the name by which the thing is known becomes equally universal. It matters not that the inventor coined the word by which the thing has become known. It is enough that the public has accejited that word as the name of the thing, for thereby the word has become incorporated as a noun into the English language, and the common property of all. Whatever doubts may theretofore have existed on this proposition have been, for the federal courts, put at rest by the recent decision of the supreme court in the case of Singer Mfg. Co. v. June Mfg. Co., 163 U. S. 169, 16 Sup. Ct. 1002. In that case it appeared that the Singer Manufacturing Company, un'der its patents, had the exclusive right to manufacture and sell a certain class of sewing machines, known as “Singer Machines.” After .(lie expiration of the patents it claimed a trade-mark in the word “Singer,” on the ground that that word was not only descriptive of the kind of machine, but had also become indicative to the public of the origin of manufacture; but this claim was denied, and it was held that there was no trade-mark in the word “Singer” which would prevent others from using it as descriptive of the sewing machines of like kind winch they were manufacturing and selling. The opinion of Mr. Justice White is an exhaustive discussion of the question, covering substantially all the points made; in this case. There, as here, it was urged that during the life of the patent the word had become, not only descriptive of the thing, but indicative of the source of manufacture, and by virtue of the latter fact was entitled to proi eel ion as a trade-mark; and upon this the court said (page 183, 163 U. S., and page 1007, 16 Sup. Ct.):

“We conclude, then, upon the two pivotal and controverted questions of fact which we proposed at the outset to consider: (1) That the Singer sewing machines were covered by patents which gave to the manufacturers a substantial monopoly; that, in consequence of the enjoyment of this monopoly by the makers, the name ‘Singer’ came to indicate, in its primary sense, to the public, the class and type of machines made by the Singer company or corporations, and rims this name constituted their generic description; that, also, as this name applied to and described machines made alone by the Singer firm or corporations, the use also came, in a secondary sense, to convey to the public mind tbe machines made by the firm or corporations. (2) That the word ‘Singer’ was also voluntarily applied by the Singer firm or companies as a designation of the general type of machines made by .them, with the intention that such machines should be accepted by the public under that name. Thus, the course of the business, and the purposes for which the name ‘Singer’ was used, brought about results identical with those which sprang from the existence of the monopoly. Hence that name became, not only the description of the machines, but also, in a subordinate sense, the indication of the source of manufacture.”

Yet, notwithstanding this, it was held that, because the word had become descriptive of the thing, it could not be appropriated as a trademark; and the conclusion was summed up in these words (page 199, 163 U. S., and page 1014, 16 Sup. Ct.):

[958]*958‘‘The result, then, of the American, the English, and the French doctrine, universally upheld, is this: That where, during the life of a monopoly created by a patent, a name, whether it be arbitrary or be that of the inventor, has become, by his consent, either express or tacit, the identifying and generic name of (he thing patented, this name passes to the public with the cessation of the monopoly which the patent created. Where another avails himself of this public dedication to make the machine and use the generic designation, he can do so in all forms, with the fullest liberty, by affixing such name to the machines, by referring to it in advertisements, and by other means, subject, however, to the condition that the name must be so used as not to deprive others of their rights, or to deceive the public, and, therefore, that the name must be accompanied with such indications that the thing manufactured is the work of the one making it as will unmistakably in form the public of that fact.” •

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Bluebook (online)
84 F. 955, 28 C.C.A. 581, 1898 U.S. App. LEXIS 1982, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/centaur-co-v-heinsfurter-ca8-1898.