G. D. Searle & Co. v. Institutional Drug Distributors, Inc.

151 F. Supp. 715
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedJanuary 1, 1957
Docket19884
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 151 F. Supp. 715 (G. D. Searle & Co. v. Institutional Drug Distributors, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
G. D. Searle & Co. v. Institutional Drug Distributors, Inc., 151 F. Supp. 715 (S.D. Cal. 1957).

Opinion

YANKWICH, Chief Judge.

The action is for infringement of a trademark and seeks injunctive relief and damages. The defendants in their Answer have attacked the validity of the trademark and have also urged that injunctive relief be denied upon the ground that the plaintiff has been guilty of monopolistic practices and price-fixing in violation of the antitrust laws of the United States. 15 U.S.C.A. §§ 15, 26, 1115(b) (7).

The facts out of which the controversy arises are stated briefly in the Memorandum filed when preliminary injunction was issued. G. D. Searle & Co. v. Institutional Drug Distributors, Inc., D.C.Cal.1955, 141 F.Supp. 838.

A hearing on the merits confirms the conclusion arrived at previously on the basis of affidavits and depositions that the mark is valid and has been infringed by the defendants and that the plaintiff, to be referred to as Searle, has not been guilty of any practices in violation of antitrust laws which would call for denial of permanent injunctive relief.

I

The Mark Involved

As stated in the previous Memorandum, the plaintiff drug manufacturers registered on March 17, 1949, the mark “Dramamine” which was first used in commerce on January 28, 1949.

The mark referred to dimenhydrinate tablets used to combat motion sickness, *717 nausea and vomiting. A chemist produced by the defendants stressed the fact that the phrase “Dramamine” has a meaning in pharmacology when used in conjunction with the suffix hydro or others. In fact, the basic name of the drug to which the mark has been attached is 8-chlorotheophyllinate of diphen-hydramine. Dimenhydrinate is the generic term of the product.

One of the latest medical dictionaries lists “Dramamine” as

“Trade-mark for dimenhydrinate, the 8-chlorotheophyllinate of diphenhydramine, useful in motion sickness.” Blakiston’s New Gould Medical Dictionary, 2d Ed., 1956, 368.

Another one lists it as;

“A proprietary brand of dimen-hydrinate.” Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary, 23d Ed., 1957, 411.

“Hydro” is the Latin prefix for water and whenever it is used in conjunction with another chemical substance it denotes the presence of water in the chemical compound of a drug. From this the inference is sought to be drawn that because “dramine” is a suffix which has a meaning, “Dramamine” is not a valid mark because it is, as the defendant’s ehemical expert stated, “of the genus hy dramine” (as defined in Hackh’s Chemical Dictionary, 3d Ed., 1944, 416) and is merely descriptive of the chemical character of the product.

The difficulty with this reasoning is that “hydro” and “dramine” used either together or with other prefixes have a definite meaning. But when you take “dramine” and break it up into syllables and insert “ma” after the first one, you destroy the meaning of the word and create a word which is just as artificial and foreign to the genius of our language as the coined words Kodak (Elgin American Mfg. Co. v. Elizabeth Arden, 1936, 83 F.2d 681, 684, 23 C.C.P.A., Patents, 1153; Aunt Jemima Mills Co. v. Rigney & Co., 2 Cir., 1917, 247 F. 407, 410-411, L.R.A.1918C, 1039) or Oxo-lin (Ball Chemical Co. v. Hodenfield, D. C.Cal.1956, 137 F.Supp. 484). In short, “hydro” has a meaning. So has “hydra-mine”. But “Dramamine” has none chemically or linguistically. So we have clearly a mark which is unrelated to the chemical composition of the product.

II

“Strong” Marks

The mark is not descriptive. By all standards it is a strong mark. Sunbeam Furniture Corp. v. Sunbeam Corporation, 9 Cir., 1951, 191 F.2d 141, 144. Marks of this character, especially when exploited on a national basis, have been given the highest protection by the courts both before and since the enactment of the Lanham Act. 15 U.S. C.A. §§ 1051, 1127. For they are the means of identifying a person’s product. 1 They are what Judge Learned Hand, in a noted decision, called the user’s “authentic seal”, adding:

“by it he vouches for the goods which bear it; it carries his name for good or ill. If another uses it, he borrows the owner’s reputation, whose quality no longer lies within his own control.” Yale Electric Corp. v. Robertson, 2 Cir., 1928, 26 F.2d 972, 974.

In that case the registration of the use of the word “Yale” on flashlights was denied at the behest of a prior user who had used it on locks, keys and many kinds of hardware.

Other illustrations are: The words “Del Monte” although geographical, were denied use by an oleomargerine manufacturer at the behest of a prior user, a producer of food products under the registered trademark “Del Monte *718 Brands”. Del Monte Special Food Co. v. California Packing Corp., 9 Cir., 1929, 34 F.2d 774. The trademark “V-8” as used on containers of vegetable juices was protected as a non-descriptive word, although it consisted merely of a combination of a capital letter and a numeral. Standard Brands v. Smidler, 2 Cir., 1945, 151 F.2d 34. The word “Stork” used to designate a famous New York Restaurant was protected against use by a bar in San Francisco. Stork Restaurant v. Sahati, 9 Cir., 1948, 166 F.2d 348. The use of the mark “Safe-Way” on toilet tissue and paper towels was denied at the behest of a company which did a national grocery and market business under the name of “Safeway”. Safeway Stores v. Dunnell, 9 Cir., 1949, 172 F.2d 649. The use of the phrase “Radio Shack” was denied to one dealing in radio and electronic parts at the behest of a first user who had used a similar trademark. And this despite the fact that the first user did not manufacture the goods sold. Radio Shack Corp. v. Radio Shack, Inc., 7 Cir., 1950, 180 F.2d 200. And see, Julius R. Lunsford, Jr., Woe Unto You Trademark Owners, 1951, 49 Mich.Law.Rev. 1103.

And even marks which are “weak” because they contain ordinary descriptive words will be protected if applied to a similar product. Dixi-Cola Laboratories v. Coca-Cola Co., 4 Cir., 1941, 117 F.2d 352, 355-356; Philco Corp. v. F. & B. Mfg. Co., 7 Cir., 1948, 170 F.2d 958, 960-961; Sunbeam Furniture Corp. v. Sunbeam Corporation, 9 Cir., 1951, 191 F.2d 141; See, Lewis S. Gamer, Narrow and Weak Trade-Marks, 1953, 22 George Washington Law Rev., p. 40.

In the case before us we have an instance of a strong, fanciful mark, used by a pharmaceutical manufacturing company doing business' on a national scale and spending millions in advertising the product and others it manufactures and sells under tradenames and trademarks, being infringed by one of the persons, the defendant, used by them in limited transactions in a certain California locality.

By oral understanding, without any binding written agreement, the defendant was given the privilege of making bids to public institutions for sale of its products, at their catalogue prices. For this he received ten per cent of the price.

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