Eastman Kodak Co. v. Siegel

207 Misc. 283, 136 N.Y.S.2d 800, 1955 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3383
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 14, 1955
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 207 Misc. 283 (Eastman Kodak Co. v. Siegel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Eastman Kodak Co. v. Siegel, 207 Misc. 283, 136 N.Y.S.2d 800, 1955 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3383 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1955).

Opinion

Matthew M. Levy, J.

It appears without dispute that the plaintiff is a long-established manufacturer of photographic equipment and supplies, that it is the owner of the trade-marks ‘ ‘ Eastman ”, “ Kodak “ Brownie ’ ’ and ‘ ‘ Hawkeye ’ ’, that it has expended large sums of money to advertise and promote its name, trade-marks and good will, and that it has entered into contracts with retail dealers in this State by the terms of which it has fixed minimum retail prices at which certain of its products might be sold.

These so-called fair-trade agreements were entered into by the plaintiff in pursuance of the Feld-Crawford Act (L. 1935, ch. 976, as amd. by L. 1938, ch. 14, re-enacted L. 1940, ch. 195) and contained in the General Business Law. Subdivision 1 of section 369-a permits price fixing by contract of a “ commodity which bears, or the label or content of which bears, the trade mark, brand, or name of the producer or owner of such commodity and which is in fair and open competition with commodities of the same general class produced by others ”. Section 369-b of the statute has been invoked by the plaintiff in this action to obtain an injunction against the defendant, a nonsigner of the fair trading agreement, who has received due notice thereof. The defendant is a retailer doing business in New York City under the name of Tower Photo Shop. The merchandise involved is a package assembled and advertised by the plaintiff as the “ Brownie Hawkeye Flash Outfit”. The matter comes before me on the plaintiff’s application for an injunction during the pendency of the action.

The Outfit ” is packaged in a cardboard box on which appear the words “ a Kodak Flash Outfit ”, and a cover on which appears the legend “ Made in Rochester, N. Y. by Eastman Kodak Company. Trade Mark Reg. H. S. Pat. Off.” A sample of the package has been noted as an exhibit on this application. It contains a number of individual articles — (1) a Brownie Hawkeye Camera, Flash Model; (2) a Kodalite Flasholder with Kodak Two-Way Flashguard; (3) eight No. 5 Photoflash Lamps; (4) two size C batteries; (5) two rolls V 620 film; and (6) a thirty-two-page booklet entitled “ Snapshots With Your Brownie Hawkeye Camera Flash Model ”. The price fixed by the plaintiff for the “ Outfit ” is $13.65, for the camera separately $6.95, and for each roll of film $0.45. The defendant has concededly sold the “ Outfit ” at a price less [286]*286than $13.65, but for an amount in excess of the fixed prices of the camera and two rolls of film together, which total $7.85.

It is alleged in the complaint and moving papers (and the “ Retailer Fair Trade Agreement ” and the sample exhibit submitted to the court appear to indicate) that the plaintiff is the manufacturer of the “ Outfit ” and that it is trade-marked by it. This the defendant denies. He points out that, of the six articles included in the package, only two (Nos. 1 and 5) are manufactured by the plaintiff and bear its trade-mark and are fair traded; two (Nos. 2 and 6) are the plaintiff’s products bearing its trade-mark but are not fair traded; and that the remaining two articles (Nos. 3 and 4) are neither manufactured by the plaintiff nor bear its trade-mark nor are fair traded by it. These last two items (the photoflash lamps and the batteries) are manufactured by others than the plaintiff and the trademarks of these others appear thereon. These articles have been included by plaintiff in the Outfit ” package without change in form, substance or intended use, and have themselves not been price fixed by their respective manufacturers.

It may be that the initial papers in support of the motion should have made clear the fact that the Outfit ” contained some component articles not manufactured by the plaintiff, not trade-marked by it, not fair traded by it, and that some items, bearing the trade-marks of other manufacturers, were not price fixed. But, as to these matters of fact, there is now no dispute, and, as I view the application on final submission, the problem goes deeper than mere pleading or presentation. The plaintiff says that it relies upon its being the “ producer or owner ” (General Business Law, § 369-a, subd. 1) of the package as a whole. The issue before me is whether the fair-trade statute or the plaintiff’s fair-trade agreement warrants an injunction with respect to an assembled commodity of this type. No precedents in point have been cited by counsel and none has been found by the court.

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207 Misc. 283, 136 N.Y.S.2d 800, 1955 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3383, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eastman-kodak-co-v-siegel-nysupct-1955.