Eagle Clothes, Inc. v. Frankel

238 F. Supp. 7, 144 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 88, 1964 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9117
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedDecember 10, 1964
DocketCiv. A. No. 3751
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 238 F. Supp. 7 (Eagle Clothes, Inc. v. Frankel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Eagle Clothes, Inc. v. Frankel, 238 F. Supp. 7, 144 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 88, 1964 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9117 (E.D. Va. 1964).

Opinion

BUTZNER, District Judge.

This is an action for trademark infringement and unfair competition.

The plaintiff, Eagle Clothes, Incorporated, is a New York Corporation with its principal place of business in New York. It has a large factory in Brooklyn, New York. It was incorporated in 1946, and its predecessor, a partnership trading under the name of Eagle Clothes, was founded in 1919.

The plaintiff is the second or third largest manufacturer of quality men’s suits, top coats and overcoats in the country. It also manufactures slacks and sport coats. The term “quality” is a semi-technical term referring to the fact that handwork is done on the plaintiff’s products. Prices of the plaintiff’s products range above $85.

The plaintiff and its predecessor since 1919 have sold these goods throughout the United States and in foreign countries in amounts totaling approximately $250,000,000. Its products are sold through about 1,200 independent retail stores in the United States.

Since 1919 the plaintiff and its predecessor have manufactured and sold men’s suits and overcoats under the trademark EAGLE. The trademark has been used with and without the symbol of an eagle.

The plaintiff has registered in the United States Patent Office four trademark registrations, Nos. 350,131, September 14, 1937; 413,454, April 24, 1945; 660, 172, April 1, 1958; and 711, 913, February 28, 1961. In all of these registrations either the word EAGLE or the symbol of the eagle is the dominant feature of the registration mark. All of the registrations are directed to overcoats, top coats and suits. Registration No. 711, 913 is for fabrics used only in the form of the men’s overcoats, top coats and suits. The registrations are valid and in full force and effect.

Plaintiff’s trademark EAGLE has been extensively advertised nationally, in Virginia and in the City of Richmond. Plaintiff has expended more than $4,-000,000 in advertising its clothing and its trademark. It has used nationally distributed magazines, trade papers, billboards, tie-ins with radio and television programs and testimonials from well-known persons.

The plaintiff also assists retail outlets which sell its EAGLE clothes in advertising. It provides financial assistance for outdoor store signs which display the plaintiff's trademark EAGLE or otherwise indicate the store as featuring plaintiff’s clothing. It provides suggestions and mats for newspaper advertising layouts. It pays for one-half of the space, with certain limitations, of approved retail advertising placed by stores selling its clothes.

The plaintiff’s trade name EAGLE CLOTHES and the trademark EAGLE are widely known as designating the plaintiff and its products.

In Virginia since 1947 the sales of plaintiff’s clothes have totaled approximately $2,886,000. Its products are sold in stores located in Richmond, Roanoke, Springfield, Vienna, Alexandria, Newport News, Danville, Suffolk, Petersburg, Portsmouth and Norfolk.

[9]*9In Richmond, Virginia, since 1939, the plaintiff’s clothes have been sold by Newman’s, Incorporated, on Broad Street. The plaintiff ships its merchandise f. o. b. its factory in New York. No goods have been sold in Virginia on consignment. Newman’s, Incorporated has employed decals on store windows showing that it sells plaintiff’s EAGLE clothes. In 1963, Newman’s, Incorporated, installed a new store front, which included a large sign displaying the plaintiff’s trademark EAGLE CLOTHES.

Newman’s, Incorporated, uses the plaintiff’s advertising mats and runs between ten and fifteen advertisements a year, mentioning EAGLE CLOTHES. The sale of EAGLE CLOTHES in Newman’s, Incorporated amounts to over $100,000 a year. Some of these clothes are sold with the label EAGLE CUSTOM SHOP, which is one of the labels that plaintiff places in its clothes. Newman’s, Incorporated is listed in the phone book under the heading of Newman’s and also under the heading of EAGLE CLOTHES.

The defendants, Louis Frankel and Benjamin Kogan, are residents of Richmond, Virginia. In 1946 they formed a partnership and started doing business as EAGLE PANTS SHOP, with a store on Hull Street, Richmond. The name EAGLE PANTS SHOP was suggested to the defendants by the discharge emblem used by the United States Army at the end of World War II. A replica of this emblem was placed on their store window. In 1950 the store was moved to another location on Hull Street and since that time the defendants have not displayed the discharge emblem.

In 1961 the defendants enlarged their store. The front facade bears a large sign, with the single word EAGLE. Underneath is an awning which bears the legend EAGLE PANTS SHOP across the front and the word EAGLE at each end.

In the latter part of 1962 Sidney Newman, owner of Newman’s, Incorporated, having learned of the defendants’ intention to open a store at Azalea Mall Shopping Center, Richmond, Virginia, phoned Mr. Frankel and inquired whether the defendants planned to use the word EAGLE in connection with the sale of men’s suits, sport coats and slacks. Frankel replied that the defendants did intend to do business at Azalea Mall as EAGLE PANTS SHOP but that no labels using the word EAGLE would appear in any of the clothing sold. Newman unsuccessfully protested the defendants’ plans. He then notified the plaintiff, who in turn protested to the defendants. Newman knew of the Eagle Pants Shop on Hull Street since about 1948. Although he was a customer of the plaintiff, he was not its agent. The plaintiff learned of the defendants’ establishment in the latter part of 1962.

At the time that Newman phoned the defendants, work on the shopping center had not been completed and the defendants had not erected their signs. In March 1963 the defendants opened a store at the shopping center. Across the facade in large letters is the word EAGLE’S. In smaller letters are the words OUTFITTERS TO MEN AND BOYS. The defendants changed the name of their Azalea Mall store from EAGLE PANTS SHOP to EAGLE’S OUTFITTERS TO MEN AND BOYS at the suggestion of the real estate agent handling the leasing arrangements, who thought that the words OUTFITTERS TO MEN AND BOYS were more appropriate than PANTS SHOP. The defendants used the legend EAGLE’S OUTFITTERS TO MEN AND BOYS in their advertising and on their sales tickets and shopping bags. Generally, the word EAGLE’S is in much more prominent type than the phrase OUTFITTERS TO MEN AND BOYS.

The defendants displayed in their Azalea Mall store a man’s suit with a price tag on the shoulder bearing the word EAGLE.

At the Azalea Mall store approximately twelve percent of the gross volume of sales is realized from suits. At the Hull Street store the percentage is slightly less. The other articles of clothing which [10]*10the defendants sell, constituting approximately eighty-eight percent of their merchandise, include shirts, underwear, pajamas, hats and other items which the plaintiff does not manufacture. The defendants do not sell top coats or overcoats. The suits which the defendants sell at Azalea Mall range in price from $29.95 to approximately $65. At Hull Street the top price range is in the neighborhood of $50. Most of defendants’ customers are teen-agers and young men. The defendants have established a sound business and good will in both of their stores.

None of the clothing which the defendants sell bears a permanent label containing the word EAGLE. The plaintiff’s clothes all have permanent labels using EAGLE various ways.

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238 F. Supp. 7, 144 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 88, 1964 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9117, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eagle-clothes-inc-v-frankel-vaed-1964.