Ironite Co. v. Guarantee Waterproofing Co.

52 F.2d 288, 11 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 88, 1931 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1636
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Missouri
DecidedSeptember 3, 1931
DocketNo. 1238
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 52 F.2d 288 (Ironite Co. v. Guarantee Waterproofing Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ironite Co. v. Guarantee Waterproofing Co., 52 F.2d 288, 11 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 88, 1931 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1636 (W.D. Mo. 1931).

Opinion

OTIS, District Judge.

In this ease two causes of action are joined, one for alleged infringement of a registered trade-mark, the other for alleged unfair competition. They’will be considered separately herein.

1. The Ironite Company, one of the plaintiffs, an Illinois corporation, is the owner of the registered trade-mark involved, having it by assignment from its originator, one John M. Rauhoff, who applied for. its registration in the United States Patent Office February 18, 1911. It was registered October 24th of the same year.

The trade-mark consists essentially of the word “Ironite.” It was registered as a trade-mark to be used “for a composition to be applied to cement and concrete structures, such- as walls, floors, roofing-slabs, building blocks, and brick for the purpose of rendering the same proof against the absorption of water or moisture” and to be “applied or affixed to- packages containing the composition or goods by stenciling or placing thereon a printed label on which the trade-mark is shown.”

The Ironite Company is and has been engaged in the manufacture of a waterproofing composition, consisting of finely ground iron mixed with some liquid, usually water, and in distributing the composition so manufactured. It appears from the allegations of the plaintiffs’ bill, as it appears also from the evidence in this ease, that the Ironite Company distributes its waterproofing composition under its trade-mark “Ironite,” not by direct sales to the public, but through [289]*289exclusive licensees in various territories in the United States by which licensees the composition is applied in buildings and otherwise in accordance with a particular process known as the “Ironite” process, which process was formerly covered by a patent, now expired.

The exclusive licensee of the Ironite Company, in Kansas City territory, is the plaintiff, the Permanent Waterproofing Company, a Missouri corporation. Although two defendants are named, the Guarantee Waterproofing Company and John T. Kelley, there is in reality but one defendant, John T. Kelley, who- conducts a waterproof* ing business under the name of the Guarantee Waterproofing Company. The defendant Kelley is a resident of Missouri and is a competitor of the Permanent Waterproofing Company, the Ironite Company’s licensee.

The allegations of the plaintiff’s bill, in connection with their cause of action for trade-mark infringement, are that the defendant has “unfairly and deceptively used plaintiffs’ trade-mark or name “Ironite” on packages containing a product of the same descriptive properties as that of plaintiffs, represented by defendants to be the genuine “Ironite” product.”

If plaintiffs’ cause of action for trademark infringement is to be maintained, it must be by virtue of section 96, title 15, USCA, which’is as follows: “The registration of a trade-mark under the provisions of this subdivision of this chapter shall be prima facie evidence of ownership. Any person who shall, without the consent of the owner thereof, reproduce, counterfeit, copy, or colorably imitate any such trademark and affix the same to merchandise of substantially the same descriptive properties as those set forth in the registration, or to labels, signs, prints, packages, wrappers, or receptacles intended to he used upon or in connection with the sale of merchandise of substantially the- same descriptive properties as those set forth in such registration, and shall use, or shall have used, such reproduction, counterfeit, copy, or colorable imitation in commerce among the several States, or with a foreign nation, or with the Indian tribes, shall be liable to an action for damages therefor at the suit of the owner thereof. * * * ”

That an action of this character must he maintained, if at all, under this statute was held by the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Kasch et al. v. Cliett, 297 F. 169.

From a consideration of the statute it is apparent that there are three essentials to infringement of a registered trade-mark. They are these: (1) A reproduction or imitation of the trade-mark; (2) the affixing of the reproductive or imitation either to (a) merchandise of the same descriptive properties as those set forth in registration or (b) to labels or receptacles intended to be used in connection with such merchandise; and (3) the use of such reproduction or imitation of trade-mark in interstate commerce. Proof of infringement involves proof of each of these three elements. Failure of proof as to any one of these several elements is failure to prove a cause of action for infringement.

Now the proof in this ease is that the defendant in the conduct of his business- as a waterproofing contractor represented to his clients that he did waterproofing by the “Ironite” process and used “Ironite” for waterproofing. He did not obtain the waterproofing composition which he applied from the Ironite Company. He did obtain it from one of the- competitors of the Ironite Company, the Truseon Laboratories of Detroit; Midi. It came to him in receptacles hearing on the outside thereof in large lettering the words “Truseon” and the words “The Truseon Laboratories, Detroit, Michigan, U. S..A.,” and also, stenciled thereon, the word “Ironite.” There was no showing that the defendant himself had anything to do with placing the word “Ironite” o-n any of the receptacles containing the waterproofing composition used by him or upon any containers of any kind containing any such waterproofing composition. The Truseon Laboratories was not made a party in this proceeding.

Upon a careful consideration of the evidence in the case, I make the following findings of fact:

1. The defendant is engaged in Kansas City, Mo., in the business of applying- waterproofing to concrete flooring and other surfaces in buildings under construction.

2. The defendant has represented that in the waterproofing done by him he uses “Ironite” and the “Ironite Process.”

3. The defendant has not affixed either to merchandise of substantially the same descriptive properties as those set forth in the plaintiff’s registration of its trade-mark or to labels, signs, prints, packages, wrappers, or receptacles intended to be used upon or in connection with the sale of such merchandise, any reproduction, counterfeit, [290]*290copy, or colorable imitation of the plaintiff Ironite Company’s trade-mark.

4. Tbe defendant has not used in interstate commerce any reproduction, counterfeit, copy, or colorable imitation of the trade-mark in question affixed to or in eonneetion with the sale of merchandise of the same descriptive properties as those set forth in the registration of the trade-mark,

It follows from these findings of fact that the defendant has not infringed the copyright of the Ironite Company.

2. Under the evidence the defendant elearly was guilty of unfair competition with the plaintiffs.

The Ironite Company manufactures and distributes for use throughout the country its waterproofing composition under its trade-mark “Ironite.” The plaintiff and its licensees apply that product by a process generally known as the “Ironite” process.

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Related

Ironite Co. v. Cement Waterproofing & Ironite Co.
20 F. Supp. 603 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1937)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
52 F.2d 288, 11 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 88, 1931 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1636, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ironite-co-v-guarantee-waterproofing-co-mowd-1931.