Kinney Tobacco Co. v. Maller

6 N.Y.S. 389, 60 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 340, 53 Hun 340, 1889 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 595
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 9, 1889
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 6 N.Y.S. 389 (Kinney Tobacco Co. v. Maller) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kinney Tobacco Co. v. Maller, 6 N.Y.S. 389, 60 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 340, 53 Hun 340, 1889 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 595 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1889).

Opinion

Daniels, J.

The plaintiff and defendant are manufacturers 'of cigarettes in the city of New York, and the action was brought to restrain the' defend[390]*390ant from the use of a device adopted by him as a trade-marie, upon the alleged ground that it infringed a trade-mark previously adopted and used by the plaintiff and its predecessors in the same business. The cigarettes manufactured by the plaintiff were put up in packages, upon the wrapper of which was its label, containing the words, in circular form, “Sweet Caporal.” These words were above space containing a cap, ornamented with a device extending from the top, over the side and beneath the rim of the cap, and over this, upon one side, was the word “Trade,” and on the other, the word “Mark.” This was followed with the words “Mild and extra fine, ” below the cap, with the name of “Kinney Brothers,” and the place of business still beneath those words. The defendant placed the cigarettes manufactured by him in a red-colored paper box, sufficiently large to contain 100 in number, and upon this box was his label, printed upon plain white paper, with the words, in circular form, across the top, “Sweet Coronal." Beneath the word “Sweet” was the word “Trade,” then followed the figure of a crown, and beyond that, and to the right, the word “Mark.” Underneath these words and the crown were the words, “Cigarettes manufactured for Oscar Mailer, Hew York.” This was followed by the number and location of the factory, and a warning, not required to be noticed. In this respect there was no such resemblance or similarity between the wrapper used by the plaintiff upon its packages of cigar» ettes and that used by the defendant, and no interference with this use by the defendant of these words in this manner was directed or provided for by the judgment. So far it in no way undertook to interfere with the defendant in the packing of his cigarettes, or with the label placed upon the box.

But it was proven upon the trial, and the fact was found by the court, that each cigarette manufactured by the plaintiff was inclosed in a rice paper wrapper, and upon the middle of the cigarette, outside of this wrapper, were the words, in circular form, “Sweet Caporal.” Below these words, and lengthwise of the paper, was the word “Bice;” below that, still, the words “Kinney Bros.” Under this name was a short line, and still below that the word “Paper.” Upon the cigarettes manufactured by the defendant, in similar circular form, were the words “Sweet Coronal;” lengthwise of the paper was the word “Bice.” Underneath that was the name “Oscar Mailer,” and still below that, and under a more extended line than that in the plaintiff’s label, is printed the word “Paper.” And below this device, and across a portion of the wrapper, is the figure of a crown. And it is this use of these words and of this device that the judgment has prohibited the defendant from employing or making. The words themselves, which have been i n this manner employed, cannot be exclusively appropriated by the plaintiff. The first of them relates only to the quality of the article, and no exclusive right to the appropriation of that word can be secured by a manufacturer or trader in any quantity or style of manufacture. This was determined in Manufacturing Co. v. Trainer, 101 U. S. 51, when it was said in the opinion that the owner of a trade-mark “has no right to the exclusive use of any words, letters, figures, or symbols which have no relation to the origin or ownership of the goods, but are only meant to indicate their names or quality. He has no right to appropriate a a sign or symbol which, from the nature of the fact it is used to signify, others may employ with equal truth, and therefore have an equal right to employ for the same purpose.” Id. 54. And the same principle was applied in Caswell v. Davis, 58 N. Y. 223, where it was said that “words are bub symbols. When they are used to signify a fact, or when, with what purpose soever used, they do signify a fact which others may by the use of them express with equal truth, others have an equal right to them for that purpose.” Id. 235. The defendant was also equally entitled to print the words “Bice Paper” upon the paper used by him as the wrapper or case of the cigarette; for the plaintiff had acquired no exclusive right to the use of this paper, or to its denomination as “rice paper,” for this object. The employment of the words them[391]*391selves in this manner devoted to the defendant’s manufacture would, therefore, be no violation of the plaintiff’s exclusive right to this label as a trademark. But it appears from the continuation, location, and general description of the words used for the case or wrapper of each cigarette that the defendant, in the employment of the words selected by him, has endeavored in appearance to imitate the label adopted and used by the plaintiff. This will appear from the form and manner in which the words, lines, and location and character of the printing, are used in the respective labels. That employed by the plaintiff lengthwise of the cigarette is in the following form:

While that employed by the defendant in the same manner is

in this form:

and a casual or inattentive observer,

as most pur

chasers are, would be very likely to

accept one

persons using place of the other. Purchasers or

these cigarettes, and desiring to obtain those manufactured by the plaintiff, might very well in this manner accept and purchase the defendant’s manufacture in place of the plaintiff’s. His cigarettes, having this label on each wrapper, were sold from the box, while each of the plaintiff’s cigarettes had the label upon its wrapper or case as they were put up in the packages, of tens or twenties, for the purposes of sale. In selling from the box used by the defendant, and containing 100 cigarettes, purchasers in this manner would ordinarily be deceived, for they would not be expected or inclined to look closely at the label upon the wrapper of the cigarettes, to ascertain whether it was that of the plaintiff or of another manufacturer. And in this manner the plaintiff could well be defrauded out of a corresponding portion of its trade. It is by this peculiar form, combination, and location of the words, rendering one label a close resemblance of the other, that deception and injury would be caused. And when that is the nature of the device resorted to, although the defendant may employ the words he has the legal right to select and use, yet he violates the right of the plaintiff by so printing, placing, and arranging them as to produce the conclusion that the manufacture is that of the other party. That, under the legal rule applicable to this case, is an infringement of the plaintiff’s exclusive right to the use of its trade-mark; for, by the peculiar location of the words and the general form of the defendant’s label, he has given it the appearance of the label of the plaintiff, and the deception could only be removed by close observation and inspection. And, when that may appear to be the fact in the case, then the plaintiff has the right to appeal to the court to restrain such a composition and use of the defendant’s label as will be calculated to deceive the plaintiff's customers. Colman v. Crump, 70 N. Y. 573; Morgan's Sons Co. v. Troxell, 89 N. Y. 292. And to the extent necessary to prevent that, and only to that extent, is the plaintiff entitled to relief against the defendant in this action.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
6 N.Y.S. 389, 60 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 340, 53 Hun 340, 1889 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 595, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kinney-tobacco-co-v-maller-nysupct-1889.