Chester H. Roth Co. v. Esquire, Inc.

85 F. Supp. 848, 82 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 101, 1949 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2559
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJune 30, 1949
StatusPublished

This text of 85 F. Supp. 848 (Chester H. Roth Co. v. Esquire, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chester H. Roth Co. v. Esquire, Inc., 85 F. Supp. 848, 82 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 101, 1949 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2559 (S.D.N.Y. 1949).

Opinion

COXE, District Judge.

This is an action, commenced January 21, 1947, for a declaratory judgment determining the rights of the parties in the use of the word “Esquire” as a trade-mark.

The plaintiff is a New York corporation engaged in the manufacture and sale of men’s socks under the name “Esquire”; it claims title to the mark in succession to Nickels & Lauber, Inc., a Pennsylvania corporation (hereinafter referred to as “Nickels & Lauber, (Pa.)”, which obtained federal registration on May 15, 1923 of the word as a trade-mark for “hosiery, scarfs, neckties and mufflers”. The defendant is a Delaware corporation engaged in the publication of a nationally known monthly magazine entitled “Esquire”; its predecessor registered the name on June 5, 1934 as a trade-mark for a “monthly magazine”. Both registrations were made under the Trade-Mark Act of 1905, 33, Stat. 724, and the Nickels & Lauber registration was renewed as of May 15, 1943.

On July 21, 1938 a predecessor of the plaintiff entered into an agreement with a predecessor of the defendant relating to the separate and concurrent use of the mark by the respective parties. It is the contention of the plaintiff that this agreement is void for champerty and maintenance, as being against public policy, and for lack of consideration. The defendant, on the other hand, insists that plaintiff has not obtained good title to the mark, that the agreement has been breached by the plaintiff, and that the defendant is entitled to judgment against the plaintiff restraining any further use of the mark by it, together with damages.

Nickels & Lauber (Pa.) was organized in 1917, and in that year it commenced the manufacture and sale of high-quality men’s full-fashioned socks, in Philadelphia. “Full-fashioned” socks are those which have a seam running along the bottom of the foot and up the back of the leg, and they ordinarily sell at higher prices than seamless socks of the same general grade. The name “Esqu'ire” appears to have been adopted for the product in 1922. During the period from 1922 to 1938 the socks were nationally advertised as “Esquire Hose”, both by Nickels & Lauber (Pa.) and by various retailers in different parts of the country, and there was a fair national distribution of the hose. In the Nickels & Lauber advertisements its name appeared as the manufacturer, but in none of the retailer advertisements did its name appear. The [850]*850name was always -omitted from the boxes and labels.- The advertisements generally contained a -drawing 'of a man’s head, referred'to'as a-“Pickwickian” character.

The defendant' is the successor of Esquire Publishing •' Company, which began the publication in'May 1933 of a monthly magazine • entitled “Esquire”, with a subtitle or heading “The Magazine for Men”. Originally the magazine dealt solely with men’s fashions and Was sold to men’s stores and department stores' with- men’s departments. Soon the- editorial scope o-f the magazine was broadened to' include pictures, cartoons, general articles, and-comments on woman’s wear, ánd the magazine was placed on sale on newstands and also sold by subscription. From 10% to 15% of the magazine was, however, always devoted to men’s fashions. Manufacturers and merchandisers-of both: men’s and women’s apparel advertised in its columns, about half being concerns in the men’s field. . .

The defendant - and its predecessor' have spent large sums in promotional expenses of all sorts, advertising the magazine and creating, for its a reputation as a- guide and authority on subjects concerning merchandise, services and customs of interest to men, which -has’ resulted in increasing the net paid circulation of the magazine from about 1.50,000 in 1934 to -a 'maximum of over 700,000 in 1944.

The, defendant had- n-o- knowledge of the existence or use of the trade-mark “Esquire” by Nickels •& Lauber (Pa.) until the end of 1934. - In the summer of 1935 Mr. N-ickels, the secretary of Nickels & Lauber (Pa.), approached defendant’s officers and told them that the popularity of the Esquire magazine -had been causing him trouble in the protection of his trade-mark, and suggested that they cooperate for the mutual protection of their respective rights. The result was that they entered into an agreement on December 31, 1935, which was substantially identical with the agreement of July 21, 1938, now under attack by plaintiff.

On July 7, 1938 Nickels & Lauber (Pa.) sold and assigned to Nickels . & Lauber, Inc., a New York corporation (hereinafter referred to as “Nickels & Lauber ,(N. Y.)”, for the sum of $46,351.22, its entire business, including its hosiery inventory, machinery, supplies, good-will, and the trademark “Esquire”, and Nickels & Lauber (Pa.) was thereupon dissolved. Nickels & Lauber (N. Y.) was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mock, Judson, Voehringer Company, and appears to have been organized dor that purpose.

The Mock Company was a manufacturer of women’s hosiery; it had a plant at Siler City, North Carolina, where it proposed to manufacture men’s full-fashioned hosiery by mass production, selling the output through Nickels & Lauber (N. Y.). Mr. Nickels went with Mock to the plant at Siler City. The project, however, was not successful, and at the end of 1938 Nickels left and returned to Philadelphia and organized a new company, Nickels & Nickels, Inc., which resumed manufacturing and selling the same type of men’s full-fashioned hosiery under the name of “Croydon”.

. In the meantime, the agreement of July 2.1, 1938 was executed. This agreement was between Nickels & Lauber (N. Y.) and Esquire-Coronet, Inc., a predecessor of defendant, which will be referred to as the defendant. The agreement refers to the 1935 agreement and recites that Nickels represents that; since June 1, 1922, it and its predecessor have continuously used the word “Esquire”, in combination with an illustration (the Pickwickian character), as shown on certain labels attached, as a trade-mark for “men’s hosiery, men’s knitted neckties, men’s scarfs and men’s mufflers”. It further recites that thereafter the, defendant began -to use, and has since continuously used, the word “Esquire” as a. trade-mark for “a periodical issued by it, which from the very beginning assumed to be an authority upon and an interpreT ter of' styles in men’s wear, and to identify” ■the defendant and its periodical “as an authority upon and an interpreter of styles in men’s wear, and also as a trade name for its business”; that since the appearance of the magazine, many persons have adopted and used the word “Esquire” as a trademark, style mark, or trade name, in connection with' various articles and businesses, for the purpose of trading upon [851]*851and profiting by the good name, fame and reputation of the defendant and its magazine, as an authority in connection with articles of interest to men, which celebrity and reputation is identified by the word “Esquire”, and that the acts of such persons also, in many cases, infringe the trade-mark rights of Nickels in its trademark, and give it a good cause of action for trade-mark infringement and unfair competition; that “it is to the interests of both parties that these unauthorized and unfair uses of the word ‘Esquire’ be enjoined”; and that the parties desire to cooperate for such purpose, and also “to define their respective rights in the word ‘Esquire’ as a trade-mark”.

• The pertinent requirements of the agreement are:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc. v. Johnson
175 F.2d 176 (Second Circuit, 1949)
Standard Brands, Inc. v. Smidler
151 F.2d 34 (Second Circuit, 1945)
American Broadcasting Co. v. Wahl Co.
121 F.2d 412 (Second Circuit, 1941)
Triangle Publications, Inc. v. Rohrlich
167 F.2d 969 (Second Circuit, 1948)
S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc. v. Johnson
116 F.2d 427 (Second Circuit, 1940)
Mutual Life Ins. Co. v. Menin
115 F.2d 975 (Second Circuit, 1940)
Reconstruction Finance Corp. v. J. G. Menihan Corp.
28 F. Supp. 920 (W.D. New York, 1939)
Standard Brands, Inc. v. Eastern Shore Canning Co.
172 F.2d 144 (Fourth Circuit, 1949)
Sun-Maid Raisin Growers v. California Packing Corp.
298 U.S. 668 (Supreme Court, 1936)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
85 F. Supp. 848, 82 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 101, 1949 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2559, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chester-h-roth-co-v-esquire-inc-nysd-1949.