Hiram Walker & Sons v. Grubman

224 F. 725, 1915 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1407
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedMarch 31, 1915
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 224 F. 725 (Hiram Walker & Sons v. Grubman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hiram Walker & Sons v. Grubman, 224 F. 725, 1915 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1407 (S.D.N.Y. 1915).

Opinion

LEARNED HAND, District Judge

[1] (after stating the facts as above). The defendants had the right to imitate the plaintiff’s whisky as closely as they could, in color, in flavor, in composition. What they made they might sell; the only limitation being upon the name and dress under which they sold it. Had they called it “Imitation Canadian Club,” there could have been no quarrel; the first question is whether they might call it “Canadian Type,” assuming that the final consumer is adequately advised that the whisky is in fact Canadian Type. That question breaks into two: First, whether there is a Canadian Type; second,, and if there is not, whether consumers might be misled into- drinking whisky, called Canadian Type, supposing it was Canadian Club. I think that there may fairly be said to be a Canadian type of whisky in this sense, that these three brands are all substantially alike in color, mode of manufacture, and resulting taste to the palate, and that no other whiskies made in America are so much like them as they are like one another. I base this chiefly upon the color, but color is a most -important quality in a beverage; I base it also upon the testimony relating to the mildness and lack of “body,” [729]*729which was not contradicted by the plaintiff. While, therefore, there are other whiskies made in Canada which have not this color or flavor, but which are like other whiskies made elsewhere, it seems to me that it may fairly be said that the words “Canadian Type” convey the meaning that the whisky is of the kind represented by these three Canadian whiskies. It follows that as any one may make them, he may sell them under that name i f the consumer knows that he is getting the type and not the Canadian whisky itself.

[2] So far as concerns the sale by wholesalers and retail liquor shops in the bottle, I think that a label like Coming’s present one is permissible. The word “Type” is of the same size as the other words; it is not disguised; it is in the same script. I cannot see that a wholesaler should be required to do more than advise the consumer of the' contents of his bottle in that form. I do not think that the label of the Bowling Green Distilling Company is a proper one; the word “Type” is large enough, but it seems to my eye too much like a pattern to be effective at a distance. Whether designed or not to conceal the word, the contrast between the red letters “Canadian Whisky” upon the white background and the black letters “Type” within the black circle are in fact likely to result in the sale of the whisky as genuine Canadian whisky, which it is not. No* conceivable reason appears why the word “Type” should have been so differentiated, unless it was to suppress it. Similarly, the Canadian Pacific label appears to me improper. The meaning of that title is not clear; it suggests either that it is the same whisky as sold to the Canadian Pacific Railroad or manufactured for it. This inference is much fortified by the shields bearing the words “Canadian Pacific” and surmounted by the beaver, the well-known heraldic animal of Canada. There can be no doubt that the label suggests Canadian manufacture. Goldberg’s other label, Exhibit No. 11, seems to me objectionable because of the small size of the word “Type.” When one is frankly putting out an imitation one should be held very strictly to the requirement of distinguishing one’s goods from the original. Any doubt must be resolved against the imitator; he assumes the duty of making clear that his imitation is in fact not the real article.

I think that the plaintiff may complain of the sale o f any whisky of this kind labeled “Canadian.” It is true that it calls its whisky “Canadian Club,” but it is the largest seller of this kind of Canadian whisky, and when a consumer asks for Canadian whisky, he means either plaintiff’s or one or two other distillers’. To> give him an American whisky is to> divert him from the plaintiff’s trade, not certainly, but-probably. Where the field is so limited and the plaintiff occupies so large a part of it, a diversion of the demand from Catiadian whisky is enough of a risk to the plaintiff’s trade to justify an injunction. Goldberg’s Canadian Pacific label is not so clear; while it probably means a Canadian whisky, it certainly means a kind of Canadian whisky which is not the plaintiff’s, at least to any one who reads. While I dare say that any demand for it may arise from the popularity of the plaintiff’s whiskies, I find it difficult to- suppose that any one could buy it under that name with the idea that he was getting the plaintiff’s [730]*730whisky. In this respect the addition of the word “Pacific” serves to create a species of Canadian, which, though itself spurious, is distinguished from the genuine species of the plaintiff. The plaintiff may therefore take a decree against both the labels first mentioned but not the lást.

[3] In connection with the labels the question arises of an existing demand for Canadian Type whisky in bottles; the plaintiff contending that all such whisky, noi matter what the label, really passes off as Canadian Club or some other Canadian whisky. No doubt there could arise cases where no amount of labeling would serve to advise the trade; the'conditions of consumption might be such that any goods made in imitation would be reasonably certain to pass for the original. 'However, such conditions must be abundantly proved. In the case at

bar they have not been. There is undoubtedly some honest demand for the whisky in retail liquor stores, and the plaintiff’s efforts to show that there was none were not successful. Yet it would have made no difference, in my judgment, if there had been none in fact. A man who wishes to stop another from selling under its true name a commodity he has the right to make and sell must go further than merely to show that at present it is not known. He must show that the proposed seller will not in fact make known that it is an imitation in the way he proposes; that the result will be to pass off the substitute. Even if there were no existing demand for Canadian Type in bottle, I see no reason to say that when sold with an honest label, it will necessarily pass as Canadian Club. I will not say that dishonest dealers may not use such labels to the plaintiff’s injury, but none of the defendants have been shown to do so with the bottled whisky. If the consumer buys of the liquor store bottles with such labels as Coming’s, the chance of his buying it for Canadian Club seems to me one inherent in the right to sell the American whisky at all. Of course, I might insist upon some grotesque exaggeration of the fact that the American article was an imitation, but courts have not done this, and if it should be necessary, it can only be after some proof. Therefore I hold that the defendants may sell Canadian Type whisky in the bottle to the consumer with Coming’s label or its equivalent. -

[4] The next question is of the sale of Canadian Type whisky to saloon keepers in the wood. I am satisfied that the demand for this whisky over the bar is of' the most trivial character. The defendants brought forward 11 (not 12, for Rand had no bar) witnesses, to prove this demand against some 14 of the plaintiff. Of these 11 Nibur and' Herts had a trade wholly among blacks, and it is very hard for me to believe that they ever ask for Canadian Type whisky. The phrase is awkward, and would come very hard to most men who are not trained to it; I should be disposed to accept their testimony as covering a small minimum of cases.

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Bluebook (online)
224 F. 725, 1915 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1407, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hiram-walker-sons-v-grubman-nysd-1915.