Hanson v. Triangle Publications, Inc.

163 F.2d 74, 74 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 280, 1947 U.S. App. LEXIS 3838
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedAugust 15, 1947
Docket13463, 13464
StatusPublished
Cited by59 cases

This text of 163 F.2d 74 (Hanson v. Triangle Publications, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hanson v. Triangle Publications, Inc., 163 F.2d 74, 74 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 280, 1947 U.S. App. LEXIS 3838 (8th Cir. 1947).

Opinions

JOHNSEN, Circuit Judge.

The action is one for trade-mark infringement and unfair competition. The trial court granted an injunction, on both grounds apparently, but denied any recovery of profits or damages. Both parties have appealed. The opinion of the trial court appears in D.C., 65 F.Supp. 952.

The plaintiff, Triangle Publications, Inc., is the publisher of “Seventeen,” a magazine of fashions and other interests for girls of high school age. It began publication of the magazine in August 1944 and had the name “Seventeen” registered in the Patent Office as a trade-mark for “a monthly magazine devoted to the interests of girls.”

The defendants, Hanson and Schwartz, as partners, are manufacturers of dresses for “teen-age” girls, named and labeled “Seventeen for the Junior Teens.” They began to show styles and samples to the trade in November 1944 but did not make deliveries until May 1945. The complaint in the present action was filed in March 1945.

Infringement and unfair competition are claimed from defendants’ use of the word “Seventeen” in their trade name and label of “Seventeen for the Junior Teens.” The word “Seventeen” is given prominence by defendants over the words “for the Junior Teens” in their insignia. Plaintiff charges that defendants are appropriating its registration and also the acquired secondary meaning of its trade-mark; that the magazine’s relation to the field of teen-age apparel is such that by defendants’ use of the word “Seventeen” the public will be led to believe that defendants’ dresses have been advertised in or otherwise endorsed or sponsored by the magazine; and that defendants are simply trying to get a free ride for their products on the trade-mark and good will of the magazine.

From the findings and the evidence, the magazine “Seventeen” had had a phenomenal and instant success and had become from the 'time of its first publication a recognized and outstanding fashion magazine for teen-age girls. Substantial promotional efforts to establish this position had been engaged in both before and in the months immediately following its appearance. Its initial number consisted of 380,000 copies and its circulation rapidly increased. By December 1945, 750,000 copies of the magazine were being published. Its advertising rates also correspondingly rose. Its original rate had been $750 per page, but by May 1945 this was increased to $1200 and by January 1946 to $1800.

As part of its business scheme, the magazine began immediately to sell reprints, counter cards and “blow-ups” of its advertisements and style comments for use in store displays. It sold hang-tags for garments on sales racks, featuring the words “You saw it in Seventeen.” Up to the time of the trial, over a million such hang-tags had been sold. From the start, it also offered a suggestion service to retail stores for their department set-ups and window displays of teen-age apparel, and it assisted them in putting on local fashion shows featuring garments that were advertised in its columns. Its appeal and prestige were such that more than a hundred manufacturers and merchandisers had sought permission to use the name “Seventeen” for their products or to associate their products with the magazine. The magazine has consistently refused to consent to the use of its name for any product.

The trial court made findings that defendants had deliberately chosen the word “Seventeen” as part of the trade name for their dresses, with knowledge of the reputation which the magazine had at that time acquired by virtue of the instant favor which it had won among girls of high school age, and with the obj ect of appealing to the group reached by the magazine; that defendants were seeking to trade on and take unfair advantage of tire magazine’s fame, reputation and good will; that, while tíie evidence did not show that defendants or the dealers in their products had been [77]*77guilty of any direct misrepresenting and confusing, and while defendants had been careful not to state specifically that their dresses had any connection with the magazine, they nevertheless had sought in various ways to foster such an impression, as, for example, by furnishing dealers with hang-tags, such as the magazine did, in which the word “Seventeen” was emphasized; that persons in the fashion and apparel business had been confused by defendants’ trade name into believing that there was some relation between their dresses and the magazine; and that defendants’ further use of the word “Seventeen” as part of their trade name and label was likely to confuse the public by causing it to believe that defendants’ dresses were advertised in or were sponsored, approved or endorsed by the magazine. There is evidence supportive of these findings.

The injunction entered prohibited defendants from using in any manner whatsoever the word “Seventeen,” or the numeral “17,” or any name including the word “Seventeen,” in the manufacture, sale, distribution or advertising of dresses or other wearing apparel for girls.

One of defendants’ contentions here is that plaintiff’s trade-mark is invalid. But as a name for a magazine catering to girls from 13 to 18 years of age, we agree with the trial court that “Seventeen” is a fanciful or suggestive term rather than a commercially descriptive one. Its value in its registered use would seem to lie in its symbolic appeal and not in any indication of particular product. Cf. San Francisco Ass’n for the Blind v. Industrial Aid for the Blind, 8 Cir., 152 F.2d 532, 533, 534. It can hardly be said, within the language of the Trade-Mark Act of 1905, as amended, to be “merely * * * descriptive of the goods with which they are used, or of the character or quality of such goods.” 15 U.S.C.A. § 85. It is not in our opinion such a summary or characterization of contents as was held to be made by the title “Aviation” in McGraw-Hill Pub. Co. v. American Aviation Associates, 73 App.D.C. 131, 117 F.2d 293; “Ranch Romances” in Warner Publication v. Popular Publications, 2 Cir., 87 F.2d 913; “College Humor” in Collegiate World Pub. Co. v. Du Pont Pub. Co., D.C., N.D.Ill., 14 F.2d 158; and other similar cases upon which defendants rely.

Defendants further contend that their use of “Seventeen” as a name for dresses is not an infringement under the Trade-Mark Act of plaintiff’s registration of the term for a magazine title. Infringement under the statute involves the use of a trade-mark upon “merchandise of substantially the same descriptive properties as those set forth in the registration.” 15 U.S.C.A. § 96. It must be conceded that magazines and dresses would not normally be regarded as merchandise of substantially the same descriptive properties. There is, however, the factor to be considered that plaintiff has made its magazine serve also as a commercial blesser and oblique brander of merchandise for identifying the products of its advertisers in the market.

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Bluebook (online)
163 F.2d 74, 74 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 280, 1947 U.S. App. LEXIS 3838, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hanson-v-triangle-publications-inc-ca8-1947.