Good Humor Corp. v. Popsicle Corp.

59 F.2d 344, 13 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 367, 1932 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1261
CourtDistrict Court, D. Delaware
DecidedMay 27, 1932
DocketNo. 953
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 59 F.2d 344 (Good Humor Corp. v. Popsicle Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Good Humor Corp. v. Popsicle Corp., 59 F.2d 344, 13 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 367, 1932 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1261 (D. Del. 1932).

Opinion

NIELDS, District Judge.

This is a motion for a preliminary injunction in an equity suit brought by Good Humor Corporation of America against the Pop-siele Corporation of the United States'(herein called Popsicle Corporation) and Joe Lowe Corporation, charging patent infringement and unfair competition.

Plaintiff seeks to enjoin the defendants from continuing certain practices which plaintiff alleges constitute contributory infringement of Burt United States patents,. No. 1,470,524, issued October 9, 1923, for a “Process of Making Frozen Confections,”' and No. 1,718,997, issued July 2, 1929, for the product “Frozen Confection.” In this-hearing defendants are not contesting the validity of either patent. They seek to justify their practices under a certain license-agreement of October 13, 1925, between Harry B. Burt, the patentee, licensor, and the defendant Popsicle Corporation, the lieensee..

About 1920, Burt, an ice cream manufacturer in Youngstown, Ohio, developed a proe- . ess for freezing confections on a stick. These confections comprised both food and drink. The usual food confection frozen on a stick is made from ice cream or the like. The usual drink confection is made from, flavored syrup, water ice, or sherbet. For nearly ten years the plaintiff and its predecessors, owners of the patents in suit, have been licensing ice cream manufacturers in many of the leading cities throughout the United States to manufacture and sell frozen confections consisting of ice cream frozen on a stick in rectangular form and coated with chocolate. These confections were sold under the trade-name “Good Humors” for 10-cents each from attractive white motortrucks-stationed along the streets and highways.

In 1923 defendant Popsicle Corporation was incorporated to manufacture and sell, and-license others to manufacture and sell, frozen. [345]*345suckers on sticks under the trade-mark “Popsicle.” They were commonly called “A Drink on a Stick.” They were manufactured under United States letters patent No. 1,505,592, issued to Prank W. Epperson, August 19, 1024. The process of the Epperson patent was one whereby a frozen mass is formed homogeneous Prom end to end, of a character such that the flavoring matter and sugar may be sucked therefrom to leave a tasteless mass of snow or ice. Popsicle Corporation v. Weiss (D. C.) 40 F.(2d) 301. “Popsicles” were water ice or sherbet from syrup frozen in a quiescent condition and cylindrical in form. They were never iee cream, milk, or the like. Their unique characteristic was the suekability of the syrup from the ice frame or body. The Popsicle Corporation granted to the Joe Lowe Company, Inc., a. predecessor to Joe Lowe Corporation, one of Ihe defendants, the exclusive sales and merchandising agency for frozen suckers under the trade-mark “1 ’opsicle.”

In 1925 Burt brought suit against Pop-side Corporation alleging infringement of Burt’s patent rights in the manufacture and sale of frozen suckers or Popsicles. This suit was not tried. Through negotiations between Joe Lowe, president of Joe Lowe Company, Inc., and Burt, the license agreement of October 13, 1925, was made between Burt, licen-sor, and Popsicle Corporation, licensee. The agreement recited the ownership by licensor of certain patents, including Burt patent, No. 1,470,524, and the pendency of the suit by licensor against licensee for infringement of the Burt patents, and provided:

“First. The Licensor [Burt] hereby grants unto the Licensee [Popsicle] a license for the life of each of said patents issued or to be issued for the entire United States and Canada to manufacture and sell Popsicles or frozen suckers comprising a, mass of flavored syrup, water ice or sherbet frozen on a. slick, and license others to do so, using Ihe process and apparatus claimed in the above identified patents, or made in accordance with any oilier patent or patents relating to frozen suckers which may be secured or acquired by the Licensor. * * * ”

“Third. It is understood that this license applies only to Popsicles or frozen suckers, comprising a mass of flavored syrup, water iee or sherbet frozen on a stick, and that Licensor reserves unto himself all other rights under the patents including the right to make frozen suckers from iee cream, frozen custard or ihe like.”

“Tenth. The Licensor agrees not to make or license others to make frozen suckers in cylindrical form, and the Licensee agrees not to make or license others to make Popsicles or frozen suckers in rectangular form.”

It is perfectly clear from the above extracts from the license agreement that Burt aud Popsicle Corporation intended to divide the frozen sucker field between them. What was the division ? That is the question in dispute. By the agreement Popsicle Corporation was granted a license to manufacture and sell ‘‘Popsicles or frozen, suckers, comprising a mass of flavored syrup, water iee or sherbet frozen on a stick.” In the same sentence of the agreement Burt reserved to himself, “all other rights under the patents, including the right to make frozen suckers from ice cream, frozen custard or the like.” If Burt reserved to himself the right to make frozen suckers from iee cream or the like, it necessarily follows that he did not also grant to Popsicle Corporation the right to make frozen suckers comprising iee cream or the like. However, say defendants, Burt licensed us to make “sherbet frozen on a stick.” Defendants assert that the word “sherbet” as used in the license agreement is a technical term in the trade. In support of this contention defendants have filed affidavits of professorfe and of executives of associations of ice cream manufacturers. These affidavits, however, support the position of the plaintiff that the word “sherbet” in the year 1925 had more than one meaning. From the evidence it clearly appears that “sherbet” meant water iee, according to definitions in standard dictionaries, common usage, and the actual practice of the Popsiclo Corporation at that time.

In construing the license agreement, the court should consider the agreement as a whole, and should put itself into the position of the parties and examine the circumstances under which the contract was made. Chesapeake & O. Canal Company v. Hill, 15 Wall. 94, 21 L. Ed. 64. A construction should be sought giving full force and effect to all provisions of the agreement rather than attributing a narrow and technical meaning to a single term resulting in confusion and uncertainty. O’Brien v. Miller, 168 U. S. 287, 297, 18 S. Ct. 140, 42 L. Ed. 469. Under these rules of construction the right to make frozen suckers from ice cream or the like was reserved by the license agreement to the licensor under his patents and was not granted to Popsicle Corporation under that agreement. The narrow and technical meaning of the word “sherbet” resulting in the confusion of contradictory terms should not [346]*346be attributed to it. It follows that the making of frozen suekers on a stick from milk, ice cream, or the like was reserved to the licensor under his patents, and was not granted to Popsiele Corporation under its license.

For five or six years following the agreement of October 13, 1925, the division of the frozen sucker field was observed without conflict.

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29 F. Supp. 512 (N.D. California, 1939)
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Bluebook (online)
59 F.2d 344, 13 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 367, 1932 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1261, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/good-humor-corp-v-popsicle-corp-ded-1932.