Charles Broadway Rouss, Inc. v. Winchester Co.

300 F. 706, 1924 U.S. App. LEXIS 3049
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedApril 28, 1924
DocketNo. 131
StatusPublished
Cited by48 cases

This text of 300 F. 706 (Charles Broadway Rouss, Inc. v. Winchester Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Charles Broadway Rouss, Inc. v. Winchester Co., 300 F. 706, 1924 U.S. App. LEXIS 3049 (2d Cir. 1924).

Opinion

ROGERS, Circuit Judge

(after stating the facts as above). There are certain terms and words which cannot be monopolized as trademarks. The general and well-established rule is that a geographical word, used to designate a locality, a section of a country, or a country, cannot be monopolized as a trade-mark at common law. The name “Winchester” is a geographical one, there being a place of that name in each of 19 states. Elgin National Watch Co. v. Illinois Watch Case Co., 179 U. S. 665, 21 Sup. Ct. 270, 45 L. Ed. 365; Saxlehner v. Eisner, etc., Co., 179 U. S. 19, 21 Sup. Ct. 7, 45 L. Ed. 60; Castner v. Coffman, 178 U. S. 168, 20 Sup. Ct. 842, 44 L. Ed. 1021; Columbia Mill Co. v. Alcorn, 150 U. S. 460, 14 Sup. Ct. 151, 37 L. Ed. 1144; Canal Co. v. Clark, 13 Wall. 311, 20 L. Ed. 581.

In the Columbia Mill Co. Case, supra, certain general principles of law applicable to trade-marks and the conditions under which a party may establish an exclusive right to the use of a name for such a purpose are laid down. The last of the rules there stated is the following:

“(4) Such trade-mark cannot consist of words in common use as designating locality, section, or region of country.”

This court, in Scandinavia Belting Co. v. Asbestos & Rubber Works, 257 Fed. 937, 169 C. C. A. 87, examined at some length the right to use a geographical name as a trade-mark. It was then pointed out that the Circuit Courts of Appeals in the Fourth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Circuits had held that no one can acquire an exclusive right to the use of a geographical name as a trade-mark. In the Scandinavia Case we reached the same conclusion, while recognizing the undoubted fact that the general rule was subject to certain exceptions. But the facts of the instant case do not bring it within any of the limited recog[712]*712nized exceptions, and they do not need to be now considered. And in Siegert v. Gandolfi, 149 Fed. 100, 79 C. C. A. 142, this court said:

“Undoubtedly tbe Siegerts did not, and could not, acquire such a monopoly in a geographical name as a trade-mart or trade-name as would entitle them to prevent others irom using it under any circumstances.”

But it is to be noted that neither the plaintiff herein nor the defendant is carrying on business in any place or district of country named “Winchester,” and the goods they sell and mark “Winchester” are not made for them in any such place. Moreover, we do not regard its use by either the plaintiff or the defendant in this case as geographical. It is rather the use of a surname, on the part of.both plaintiff and defendant. Peter W. Rouss, the founder of the plaintiff’s business, was Peter Winchester Rouss. And the name of Winchester seems to have been given to the Winchester Repeating Arms Company because the person chiefly concerned in its organization was Oliver F. Winchester, one of the original incorporators, which also explains its use by the company as a trade-name which it affixed to the goods that it sold.

But it is also a general and well-established rule of the common law that the mere name of an individual cannot become a valid technical trade-mark. Scale Co. v. Wyckoff, 198 U. S. 118, 25 Sup. Ct. 609, 49 L. Ed. 972; Brown Chemical Co. v. Myer, 139 U. S. 540, 11 Sup. Ct. 625, 35 L. Ed. 247; Havana Commercial Co. v. Nichols (C. C.) 155 Fed. 302; Merriam Co. v. Syndicate Publishing Co., 237 U. S. 618, 622, 35 Sup. Ct. 708, 59 L. Ed. 1148. The court below held that the trade-mark or trade-name of the plaintiff was validly registered in accordance with the act of 1905 (Comp. St. § 9485 et seq.), but that it was effective only as to shirts, and that as to all other articles the status of the plaintiff was that of the owner of a common-law trademark. For reasons already expressed, we think the court was in error in holding that the plaintiff had a valid common-law trade-mark.

We think it plain that the court was also in error as to the» effect of the registration under the act of Congress. In the first place, the registration was not under the act of 1905, but under, the act of 1920 (Comp. St. Ann. Supp. 1923, § 9516a et seq.). ' The effect of a registration under the act of 1920 is very different from that under the act of 1905, as will appear as we proceed.

The act of 1905- confers no title to marks registered under it, but merely makes registration under it prima facie evidence of title derived from use at common law. But the act of 1920 does not give to registration under it any effect as a source of title or as evidence thereof. It does not make registration under it even prima facie evidence of title. Section 16 of the act» of 1905 declares that registration under the act “shall be prima facie evidence of ownership.” , 33 Stat. pt. 1, c. 592, p. 728 (Comp. St. § 9501). And Act March 3, Í881, § 7, contained a similar provision. 21 Stat. c. 128, pp. 502, 5Ó3. The omission of a like provision in the act of 1920 we cannot assume was an inadvertence. Whatever may be the rights of the plaintiff acquired by its registration of the words “The Winchester” under the act of 1920, we are satisfied that it did not obtain thereby even a. prima facie title to the words as a trade-mark or trade-name.

[713]*713This brings us to a consideration of these acts. As a surname, although not susceptible of exclusive appropriation as a trade-mark^ at common law, frequently acquired a special signification in connection with particular articles of merchandise, Congress in recognition of this fact passed the Act of February 20, 1905, 33 Stat. 724, which authorized, with certain restrictions, the registration of surnames as trade-marks. We desire to point out that prior to the enactment of the act of 1905 Congress had conferred no authority to register a proper name as a trade-mark. The act of March 3, 1881, expressly denied the right of an applicant to obtain a trade-mark upon his own name. 21 Stat. 502. So that the act of 1905, in conferring the right of an applicant to obtain a trade-mark upon his own name, conferred a right not recognized at common law. See Merriam Co. v. Syndicate Publishing Co., 237 U. S. 618, 622, 35 Sup. Ct. 708, 59 L. Ed. 1148. The act of 1905 provided in section 5 as follows:

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Bluebook (online)
300 F. 706, 1924 U.S. App. LEXIS 3049, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/charles-broadway-rouss-inc-v-winchester-co-ca2-1924.