Lennox Furnace Co. v. Wrot Iron Heater Co.

181 Iowa 1331
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedDecember 16, 1916
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 181 Iowa 1331 (Lennox Furnace Co. v. Wrot Iron Heater Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lennox Furnace Co. v. Wrot Iron Heater Co., 181 Iowa 1331 (iowa 1916).

Opinion

Preston, J.

1. Trade-marks AND TRADE names : unfair competition : fraudulent duplication of article. Upon the hearing of the application for a temporary writ, witnesses were produced and testimony taken in open court by both sides; and, although the hearing was not on the merits, the record is full The following is a cut of plaintiffs furnace. and complete.

[1334]*1334And the following, which plaintiff alleges is, in some particulars, an exact duplicate of its furnace, is a cut of defendant’s furnace.

Type "A” Ideal Wrot Steel Furnaces

A BETTER STEEL FURNACE FOR LESS MONEY

Plaintiff alleged in the petition that it is a corporation engaged in business at Marshalltown, Iowa; that it manufactures an all steel furnace, under the name of the “Torrid Zone;'” that it has been engaged in the manufacture and sale of such furnace since about 1901; that it has been selling, by advertising and through agencies and dealers, an all steel furnace of a distinctive type, under the name of “Torrid Zone” aforesaid, and, by the expenditure of large sums of money and years of effort, had acquired a large trade in its furnaces in the states of Iowa, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Kansas, Texas, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota, and trade with jobbing interests at Denver, Colorado, and along the Pacific coast; [1335]*1335that plaintiff had built up a business with an average annual output of something like 5,000 furnaces; that the defendant, by unfair methods, commenced in about the year 1916, was seeking to take from the plaintiff its trade and the reputation of its furnace, and in furtherance of said effort was interfering with plaintiff’s, agencies and dealers, and was putting upon the market a furnace that was an imitation of plaintiff’s furnace, and so constructed and put together and dressed up that it could be and was being taken and purchased for plaintiff’s furnace; that such conduct, together with other unfair methods, amounted to unfair competition; that plaintiff had built up a large trade and established a valuable good will and reputation for said “Torrid Zone” furnace; that the form, style and pattern of said furnace, as well as the reputation and name and the type and construction thereof, have become and are now a valuable property right of the plaintiff’s.

Many of the allegations of plaintiff’s petition are admitted in the answer. At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court granted a temporary writ, in which it was found that the allegations of plaintiff’s petition and amendments were true, and ordered:

“It is therefore ordered that the defendant, the Wrot Iron Heater Company, be, and it is hereby, strictly enjoined and restrained from the manufacture for sale, or sale, or the advertising for sale, of its Type ‘A’ furnace in its present form, or any furnace of any other name, which is an imitation or duplication of plaintiff’s Torrid Zone furnace; and from the manufacture for sale or sale of a steel-riveted furnace, which is a facsimile of the Torrid Zone furnace made by the plaintiff; and from making for sale, advertising, selling, or offering to sell, furnaces which are imitations of plaintiff’s Torrid Zone furnace; and from interfering with the trade and agencies of the plaintiff, all of which acts, conduct, and things, the defendant is re[1336]*1336strained and enjoined from doing in the states of Iowa, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Kansas, Texas, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado, California, Oregon, Washington, and in all other localities in which the plaintiff is advertising and selling its Torrid Zone furnace.”

After the order was made, application was made to the trial court for a reargument, which was granted, and an answer was filed and the application again fully argued. There is some confusion in the dates in the abstract and additional abstract; but, as we understand it, the original order was modified on the reargument, the court stating that, upon the authority of Sartor v. Schaden, 125 Iowa 696:

“It is now apparent that the conclusion which I stated as to the breadth of the injunction should be modified, and the injunction will issue as determined in the original opinion and apply in all cases wherein the plaintiff is doing business, — that is, is selling its furnaces. This does not interfere with the right of the defendant to sell its furnaces in localities in which the plaintiff is not doing business.”

We may refer to some of the more important facts shown by the record, many of which are not disputed. As to others, there is more or less conflict. From an examination of the record, we are satisfied with the findings of the trial court. It is not our purpose to go into the evidence in detail. The bodies of plaintiff’s Torrid Zone and defendant’s Type “A” furnaces, cuts of which have been before set out, are made of steel, and formed by hydraulic or other pressure. The fronts are cast, and are formed from patterns. Some of plaintiff’s witnesses say that, prior to the time plaintiff commenced to make the Torrid Zone, there were being manufactured sheet metal or steel-bodied fur[1337]*1337naces, cylindrical in form, having the same diameter as plaintiff’s furnace, and with an ordinary rounded or dome-shaped form for a head, but not of the exact size of plaintiff’s furnaces; that there was on the market what one of said witnesses called standard size heads, which were kept in stock and could be bought by anyone; that the bodies and heads of plaintiff’s furnaces were different from the bodies and heads on the market, in that there was more or less variation between the standard sizes and those manufactured by plaintiff, depending on the size of the furnace; that the heads of plaintiff’s furnaces were dished more than some and less than others, but not exactly the same as any he knew about.

There is testimony that some of the distinctive features of plaintiff’s Torrid. Zone furnace are as before stated; that the body and the front which is placed upon it have certain proportions different from the ordinary furnace, different from any other except the Torrid Zone, and that the ornamentation is different; that there is a difference between the radiator of plaintiff’s furnace and other furnaces. Without going further into specific matters claimed as distinctive features, we may say that the general make-up and outline and dress of the furnace are distinctive.

The evidence shows that, since 1901, plaintiff has sold a large number of the Torrid Zone furnaces, and at this time is averaging 1,000 or 5,000 a year; that the furnaces are sold through Advertising and by dealers and agencies throughout the country, and especially in the states before mentioned. That, during the years since 1901, plaintiff has built up a large trade in these states, and established a valuable good will and reputation for its furnace. The form, style, and pattern of the furnace, as well as the reputation, name, and type of construction, have become and are now a valuable property right of the plaintiff’s. Prior to 1915, plaintiff manufactured at its factory, for the man[1338]*1338ager of defendant company, a number of steel furnaces. Thereafter, and prior to the first day of January, 1915, the said manager, Mr.

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181 Iowa 1331, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lennox-furnace-co-v-wrot-iron-heater-co-iowa-1916.