Hunyadi Janos Corp. v. Stoeger

285 F. 861, 1922 U.S. App. LEXIS 2018
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedOctober 31, 1922
DocketNo. 110
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 285 F. 861 (Hunyadi Janos Corp. v. Stoeger) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hunyadi Janos Corp. v. Stoeger, 285 F. 861, 1922 U.S. App. LEXIS 2018 (2d Cir. 1922).

Opinion

ROGERS, Circuit Judge.

This case involves rights arising under a trade-mark. It appears that on December 21, 1918, the Alien Property Custodian of the United States, acting under the provisions of the Trading with the Enemy Act (Comp. St. 1918, Comp. St. Ann. Supp. 1919, § 311S%a et seq.), seized the business of the “firm of Andreas Saxlelmer” in the city of New York as the property of an alien enemy resident in Budapest, Plungary, which country was at that time at war with the United States. He at the same time seized certain trade-marks as belonging to the business conducted under the [862]*862name of Andreas Saxlehner at New York City, the trade-marks being registered in the United States Patent Office; and the seizure of such trade-marks was filed in the office of the Commissioner of Patents on December 24, 1918. The trade-marks so seized may be found in the margin.1 It appears, also, that on January 25, 1919, the Alien Property Custodian sold for a valuable consideration the business so seized by him to the Partola Manufacturing Company, of New York City, and gave a bill of sale therefor, which was duly recorded; and on May 19, 1919, the Partola Manufacturing Company transferred to the plaintiff the business so purchased by it and the bill of this sale was also recorded.

The plaintiff alleges in its complaint that it thereupon became and ever since has been the only true and lawful owner of the business conducted under the name of Andreas Saxlehner at New York City, and is the owner of all the trade-marks above referred to, and of all the good will in the United States attaching to or associated with the name of Andreas Saxlehner and with the said label and trade-marks. It alleges that these were conveyed to the plaintiff’s predecessor and to the plaintiff as an appurtenance to the business seized and conveyed as aforesaid; the same having been owned and used in the United States by the said enemy owner.

The defendant, also a citizen of New York and engaged in business in New York City, is an importer of various German products. He is alleged to have imported mineral water, which' he claims is bottled by the firm of Andreas Saxlehner in Hungary, and has sold and is threatening to continue to sell this water under the names of “Hunyadi Janos” and “Andreas Saxlehner,” and in containers to which is attached a label similar in every detail to that used by the plaintiff. The mineral water so sold and offered for sale by the defendant is sold without the authority or permission of the plaintiff, and the labels attached to the bottles have been placed theieon without the plaintiff’s authority; and this is claimed to he a direct infringement of the plaintiff’s trade-marks.

The complaint contains the following interesting allegation:

“Plaintiff is informed and believes, and therefore alleges, that the defendant has imported said water by reason of and in connection with, and as the purpose and outcome of, a conspiracy and agreement on the part of the persons now owning the Saxlehner concern at Buda-Pesth and the defendant to circumvent and defeat the acts and purposes of the government of the United States of America in seizing and selling the Saxlehner concern in New York City as aforesaid, and to enable the said owners of the Saxlehner business, [863]*863a former alien enemy of the United States, to now obtain for themselves again tbe property and business so seized by the government of the United States without expense to themselves, and to this end and for this purpose to discredit the plaintiff, and to destroy, by any and all means possible, the conlidence of the public in tbe representations of tbe plaintiff that it is the true and lawful owner of said business in the United States, and to destroy in the hands of the plaintiff the value of the property which it has purchased from the government of the United States as aforesaid, and, in short, to restore to the Saxlehner concern the identical business property and trade-marks which were duly and lawfully seized by the United States Government from this concern during the war, and by the government transferred to the plaintiff’s predecessor, and that the importation and sale of the water now sold and offered for sale by the defendant constitutes an infringement of the plaintiff's said trade-marks and a violation of the plaintiff’s rights under and by reason of its purchase of the Andreas Saxlehner business at 180 Fulton siveer, New York, as aforesaid, and is a direct and deliberate attempt by the Saxleliner concern, formerly an alien enemy of the United States, and the defendant, to circumvent the United States government and the plaintiff as aforesaid, and is in defiant and direct contravention of the statutes of the United States under which such seizure and sale was made.”

It appears that the only thing complained of in this suit is that the defendant offers for sale, in the United States, under the name oí ‘‘Hunyadi Janos,” certain waters bought directly by the defendant, from the owners and sole proprietors of the famous Hunyadi Janos springs in Hungary. The defendant states in his affidavit that he has never bought or sold any water other than the genuine Hunyadi J anos water, and in his affidavit he declares:

“The bottles of Hunyadi Janos which I cell are offered by me to the trade in exactly the same form as they come to me; that is, every label, capsule, etc., which the merchandise bears is the genuine label, capsule, etc., of the firm of Andreas Saxlehner of Budapest and was affixed to the merchandise by said firm.”

The plaintiff asks that the defendant be enjoined as follows;

“(a) From importing or procuring, directly or indirectly, either in bottles, bulk, or any form whatever, any bitter water under or in connection with the name ‘Hunyadi Janos,’ the medallion of the knight’s head, the name ‘Andreas Saxlehner,’ or any colorable imitation of the plaintiff’s label referred ro above, and from in any other way, directly or indirectly, infringing the plaintiff's said trade-marks.
“(b) From using or employing’ in the importation, advertising or selling, or offering for sale, of bitter water or mineral water or any beverage, excepting only waters sold by the plaintiff, any of the plaintiff’s trade-marks or labels; or any colorable imitation of any of them.
“(c) From doing any act or thing which, directly or indirectly, destroys or tends to destroy, or impairs or tends to impair, the value, in the bands of the plaintiff, of the rights, trade-marks, property, good will,,or of anything seize!* by the United States of America in connection with its said seizure of the business of Andreas Saxlehner at 180 Fulton street, New York, and from do- / jug any act or thing, directly or indirectly, which will tend to restore the said business or return the said business to the alien enemy from whom it was seized as aforesaid.”

An accounting is also asked. A temporary restraining order was issued upon the complaint and affidavits. Subsequently the restraining order was vacated, and the motion for a preliminary injunction was denied, and this appeal was taken.

This court in A. Bourjois & Co., Inc., v. Katzel, 275 Fed. 539, [864]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
285 F. 861, 1922 U.S. App. LEXIS 2018, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hunyadi-janos-corp-v-stoeger-ca2-1922.