E. I. Du Pont De Nemours & Co. v. Purofied Down Products Corp.

176 F. Supp. 688, 1959 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2848
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedSeptember 9, 1959
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 176 F. Supp. 688 (E. I. Du Pont De Nemours & Co. v. Purofied Down Products Corp.) 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
E. I. Du Pont De Nemours & Co. v. Purofied Down Products Corp., 176 F. Supp. 688, 1959 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2848 (S.D.N.Y. 1959).

Opinion

IRVING R. KAUFMAN, District Judge.

Petitioner, E. I. duPont de Nemours and Co. moved this court under Rule 12 of the Civil Rules of the Southern District of New York for an order adjudg[691]*691ing respondents, Purofied Down Products Corp., its president, Louis Puro, and its vice-president, Joseph Puro, in contempt of a consent decree entered on November 4, 1957. Petitioner also moved under Rule 7(b)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A., for modification of the decree so as permanently to enjoin the respondent corporation from any further use of the name “duPont” or any of petitioner’s trademarks. In order to determine the factual issues underlying petitioner’s allegations, by order dated January 26, 1959, and upon consent of both parties, I appointed William J. Manning, a member of the firm of Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett, Special Master to take evidence and to report his findings of fact as to whether respondents had violated the terms of the decree.

Evidence was taken before the Special Master on February 11 and 26 and April 1, 2 and 3, 1959.1 On May 15, 1959, the Special Master filed his report and findings of fact, adjudging respondents in violation of certain provisions of the consent decree, but failing to find violations of other provisions. Both petitioner and respondents now cross-move under Rule 53(e)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for modification of the Special Master’s report and for confirmation of the report as modified.

It should be emphasized at the outset that the factual findings of the Special Master come to me armored with a strong presumption of validity. Morris Plan Industrial Bank v. Henderson, 2 Cir., 1942, 131 F.2d 975; Helene Curtis Industries v. Sales Affiliates, Inc., D.C. S.D.N.Y.1954, 121 F.Supp. 490, 494-495, affirmed 2 Cir., 233 F.2d 148, certiorari denied 1956, 352 U.S. 879, 77 S.Ct. 101, 1 L.Ed.2d 80. Under Rule 53(e)(2), I must accept these findings unless they are clearly erroneous.

In this proceeding petitioner must establish respondents’ contemptuous conduct by clear and convincing evidence. Fox v. Capital Co., 3 Cir., 1938, 96 F.2d 684, 686.

“When it is doubtful whether a decree of injunction has been violated, a court is not justified in punishing for contempt * * * for the reason that no one can say with any degree of certainty that the authority of the court needs vindication or that the aggrieved party is entitled to remedial punishment.” City of Campbell, Mo. v. Arkansas-Missouri Power Co., 8 Cir., 1933, 65 F.2d 425, 427.
“Process of contempt is a severe remedy, and should not be resorted to where there is fair ground of doubt as to the wrongfulness of the defendant’s conduct.” California Artificial Stone Paving Company v. Molitor, 1885, 113 U.S. 609, 618, 5 S.Ct. 618, 622, 28 L.Ed. 1106.

Before discussing in detail the violations alleged by petitioner, I will sketch briefly the background of the instant controversy.

Petitioner manufactures a polyester fiber sold under the trademark “Dacron”. Among its other attributes Dacron is said to possess superior qualities as a fiberfill for pillows, comforters and other so-called sleep products. The corporate respondent manufactures and sells pillows and other sleep products, and has long been a purchaser of duPont’s fiber-fills, including Dacron.

On October 1, 1957, petitioner commenced the instant action against all three respondents, for infringement of duPont’s Dacron trademark and for unfair competition. Petitioner alleged that respondents had infringed its trademark by distributing in interstate commerce pillows and other goods bearing the marks “Daron” and “Dacrilan”, had made unauthorized use of and had simulated and copied petitioner’s so-called “red labels” and had falsely represented the amount of petitioner’s fiber in the goods they manufactured. By consent of [692]*692the parties on November 4, 1957 the action against the individual respondents was dismissed without prejudice and the action against the corporate respondent terminated by the entry of a final decree.2

Paragraph 2 of the decree contains eight subparagraphs, five of which restrain respondents from certain conduct and three of which are mandatory. In its motion of November 14, 1958, petitioner alleged that respondents had violated all but one [subparagraph 2(g)] of those subparagraphs.

Proof of certain of the violations alleged by petitioner consisted solely in the [693]*693introduction into evidence and examination by the Master of the allegedly vio-lative article. Proof of other allegations depended upon the testimony of expert witnesses concerning tests performed on respondents’ pillows and comforters. The hearings before the Special Master were devoted almost entirely to the introduction of evidence falling into the latter category. Por convenience of discussion I will group together all of the alleged violations involving proof of laboratory tests and consider them after I have discussed all of the other alleged violations.

Subparagraph 2(a).

By subparagraph 2(a) respondents were “enjoined and restrained from using in connection with the manufacture, sale, offering for sale, or advertisement of pillows or of any other goods the trademarks Daron or Dacrilan or any variations thereof including Daran and DACRon-acrILAN, or any other color-able imitation of [petitioner’s] trademark ‘Dacron’ ”.

The only evidence in support of the alleged violation of subparagraph 2(a) was one pillow bearing the Daron label (Petitioner’s Exhibit 31) which had been purchased by petitioner from a retail store in Baltimore, Maryland, subsequent to the entry of the consent decree. The Special Master found that petitioner had failed to prove that this pillow had been sold to the retail store subsequent to the entry of the consent decree. The petitioner does not object to this finding.

I find that the Special Master's conclusion is supported by the record before .him and I, therefore, adopt as a finding of the Court the Special Master’s finding of fact No. 9.3

Subparagrah 2(h).

Under subparagraph 2(h) respondents are “required to offer, by written or oral communication to each customer, to repurchase or relabel all of [respondents’] pillows or other goods previously sold and bearing the terms Daron, Daran, Dacrilan, DACRon-acrILAN, or variations thereof, and to furnish [petitioner], prior to January 1, 1958, with a statement, signed by the president of [respondent] corporation, advising [petitioner] that such offer has been made and the results thereof.”

The allegation that respondents had violated subparagraph 2(h) was also supported only by the introduction into evidence of Exhibit 31, the pillow bearing the Daron label purchased by petitioner from a retail store after the entry of the consent decree.

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Bluebook (online)
176 F. Supp. 688, 1959 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2848, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/e-i-du-pont-de-nemours-co-v-purofied-down-products-corp-nysd-1959.