Creamette Co. v. Conlin

92 F. Supp. 591, 87 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 190, 1950 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2570
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedAugust 16, 1950
DocketCiv. Nos. 134, 1690
StatusPublished

This text of 92 F. Supp. 591 (Creamette Co. v. Conlin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Creamette Co. v. Conlin, 92 F. Supp. 591, 87 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 190, 1950 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2570 (S.D. Fla. 1950).

Opinion

DE VANE, District Judge.

These suits involve the right of the defendants to adopt and use as a trade-mark the name Creamette in connection with the manufacture and sale of a frozen dessert which name had been adopted by plaintiff many years before and used by it upon macaroni products and other food products manufactured and sold by it.

The suit is brought under numerous Federal Registrations set up in the complaint charging infringement of said registrations and also charging unfair competition and infringement of the common-law rights of plaintiff in its trade-mark Creamette and the plural Creamettes.

These cases were consolidated for trial. None of the material facts are in dispute— the dispute between the parties being the law applicable to the undisputed facts. The pleadings and the proof show that the plaintiff is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Minnesota, that the defendants are all residents of the State of Florida, and that more than the jurisdictional amount is involved in each case.

Plaintiff’s predecessor, Mother’s Macaroni Company, was engaged in the manufacture of macaroni and companion paste products prior to August 15, 1912. On said date Mother’s Macaroni Company registered with the Patent Office the trade-mark Creamette for its macaroni and similar paste products and on later dates registered its trade-mark Creamette and the plural Creamettes for other food products such as potato chips, seedless raisins, certain breakfast foods, evaporated milk, tapioca, and others.

The evidence shows . the trade-mark Creamette and its plural Creamettes has been extensively used by plaintiff in prac[592]*592tically all sections of the United States and in foreign countries and, that a large business has been carried on by, plaintiff over the yea'rs. Plaintiff’s principal business has beén the manufacture of macaroni, spaghetti and similar paste .products and more than ninety-nine percent of plaintiff’s revenue is derived from the sale of such products. These products are sold in interstate commerce largely in states lying in the northern half of the United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans.

The evidence further shows that plaintiff introduced its macaroni and similar paste products in Florida late in 1946 and since that date has sold such products at numerous outlets in the State.

The evidence further shows that plaintiff has expended a substantial sum of money over the years in advertising the products sold by it, principally its macaroni products and the volume of business done by plaintiff since 1922 indicates that it has built up a good reputation under its trade-mark Creamette for its macaroni products.

T. A. Conlin, his wife and two sons, are the principal defendants in these cases. Conlin, with his wife and two sons, operate a copartnership under the name of Conlin Creamette Products. This copartnership has a' written agreement dated March 10, 1948, with Taylor Freezer Corporation, of Beloit, Wisconsin, for the use of a patented machine, manufactured by the Taylor Freezer ■ Corporation, for the making" óf frozen desserts. This contract gives to the Conlin partnership an exclusive franchise for the use of these machines in the State of Florida. The other defendants. named in the cases are all licensees of the Conlin partnership owning and operating Taylor Freezer Corporation machines for the manufacture of the frozen desserts sold by them.

The Taylor Freezer Corporation also has a registered trade-mark for the product manufactured in its machines, which is used in states other than Florida. The Taylor Freezer Company prescribes the formula and prepares and furnishes to its licensee the mix used in these machines for the manufacture of the frozen desserts in the machines. However, Florida has a law requiring that the mix used in the manufacture of ice cream, manufactured and sold in the State, be manufactured in the state and this law prohibited the Conlin partnership from using in Florida the mix and the trade-mark of Taylor Freezer Corporation. It, therefore, became necessary for them to adopt a trade-name of their own and use a mix for the manufacture of their ice cream that is made in the state. After checking with the officials of ' the State of Florida and finding that they could do so, the Conlin copartnership adopted the trade-name Creamette and registered it with the Secretary of State under date of October 10, 1947. Its use is limited to frozen desserts. In this connection it should be noted that Conlin secured his trade-mark in Florida prior to entering into the written agreement of March 10, 1948 with the Taylor Freezer Corporation for the exclusive agency of the Taylor Freezer machines for the State of Florida.

On July 22, 1949 plaintiff applied for and secured from the Secretary of State of Florida registrations of its trade-marks Creamette and Creamettes for all products which it had theretofore registered with the United States Patent Office. The evidence shows that plaintiff — in fact plaintiff admits — that it has no registered trademark covering ice cream and similar frozen dessert products and that it has never sold any of these products.

The outcome of the cases resolves around the question as to whether upon this record it has been shown that defendants are guilty of unfair competition and infringement of .the common-law right of plaintiff in its trade-mark Creamette. The complaint alleges that with full knowledge of .plaintiff’s notorious and exclusive use, of the trade-mark Creamette and with full knowledge of the high grade food products sold by plaintiff under ss id trade-mark and with the fraudulent intent of trading upon the reputation and good will of plaintiff in its said trade-mark and with the fraudulent intent of passing off defendant’s products as and for the goods of plaintiff and with the full knowledge of plaintiff’s rights under the registration of said trade-mark" and of its right under the common law, the [593]*593defendants had used and are using plaintiff’s trade-mark, Creamette, which is likely to cause confusion in trade, particularly as to the source of the products sold by the defendants, and to cause confusion or mistake and deceive purchasers. Plaintiff seeks an injunction permanently enjoining the defendants and each of them from using the trade-mark Creamette in the sale .of their product. Plaintiff also seeks an accounting under the direction of the court, requiring defendants to pay over to plaintiff all profits that have been received from all sources in the business obtained and done by reason of defendants’ unlawful and fraudulent use of plaintiff’s trade-mark, Creamette, and attorney’s fees for the prosecution of these suits.

The allegations in the complaint are sufficient to entitle plaintiff to the relief prayed for if supported by the evidence in the cases. The. evidence submitted by plaintiff relate exclusively to the long use of the trade-mark, Creamette, by plaintiff, to the amount of business it has done .over the years and to the extent it has advertised and sold its products under that trade-mark. The evidence shows that plaintiff sells all its products to retail outlets from whom the consumers purchase plaintiff’s products. Display advertising is placed in these retail outlets and other means of advertising are used by plaintiff to increase the sale of its products. All, or substantially all,, of this advertising relates to its macaroni and other paste products.

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Related

Yale Electric Corporation v. Robertson
26 F.2d 972 (Second Circuit, 1928)
Creamette Co. v. Minnesota Macaroni Co.
74 F. Supp. 224 (D. Minnesota, 1947)
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93 F. Supp. 90 (N.D. Illinois, 1938)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
92 F. Supp. 591, 87 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 190, 1950 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2570, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/creamette-co-v-conlin-flsd-1950.