Home/Seventh Circuit/James Burrough Limited and Kobrand Corporation v. Sign of the Beefeater, Inc., and Montgomery Ward & Co., Incorporated

James Burrough Limited and Kobrand Corporation v. Sign of the Beefeater, Inc., and Montgomery Ward & Co., Incorporated

540 F.2d 266
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedAugust 3, 1976
Docket75-1992
StatusPublished
Cited by241 cases

This text of 540 F.2d 266 (James Burrough Limited and Kobrand Corporation v. Sign of the Beefeater, Inc., and Montgomery Ward & Co., Incorporated) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
James Burrough Limited and Kobrand Corporation v. Sign of the Beefeater, Inc., and Montgomery Ward & Co., Incorporated, 540 F.2d 266 (7th Cir. 1976).

Opinion

MARKEY, Chief Judge.

This is an appeal from the ruling of the district court granting appellees’ (Restaurant’s) 1 motion for directed verdict under Fed.R.Civ.P. 41(b) grounded on appellants’ (Distiller’s) 2 failure to establish a right to relief. We reverse and remand.

Background

Distiller is the owner of three trademark registrations for gin, each alleging first use on November 11, 1909. The registrations are for the term “BEEFEATER”; 3 for the symbol of a Yeoman (English Tower of London guard); 4 and for the term and symbol in combination. 5 The latter trademark is:

During the period 1953 through 1974, Distiller’s national retail sales, including those in restaurants, totaled'nearly a billion dollars. From 1955 to 1974 Distiller’s promotional expenditures, involving newspapers, magazines, and billboards, totaled nearly thirty-two million dollars.

Restaurant’s predecessors, John F. Joliat and Robert E. LaJoie, commenced a restaurant operation in a suburb of Detroit; Michigan in 1957, adopting, with prior knowledge of Distiller’s BEEFEATER mark, the notation SIGN OF THE BEEFEATER for their restaurant. As currently employed and as involved in this action, Restaurant’s mark comprises the phrase SIGN OF THE BEEFEATER displayed in connection with the face of a fat hungry man. The man is shown as wearing a three-cornered hat, holding a knife and fork in his hands, and having a bib about his neck. The following is a typical outdoor sign employed by Restaurant.

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540 F.2d 266, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/james-burrough-limited-and-kobrand-corporation-v-sign-of-the-beefeater-ca7-1976.