Lever Bros. Co. v. Riodela Chemical Co.

41 F.2d 408, 17 C.C.P.A. 1272
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedJune 4, 1930
DocketPatent Appeal 2357
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 41 F.2d 408 (Lever Bros. Co. v. Riodela Chemical Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Customs and Patent Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lever Bros. Co. v. Riodela Chemical Co., 41 F.2d 408, 17 C.C.P.A. 1272 (ccpa 1930).

Opinions

LENROOT, Associate Judge.

This is an appeal in a trade-mark opposition proceeding from the decision of the Commissioner of Patents affirming the decision of the Examiner of Interferences dismissing the opposition of appellant and adjudging the appellee entitled to> the registration of the word “Tex” as applied for.

Appellant’s trade-mark is the word “Lux,” registered January 1, 1907, used upon soap and soap powder.

Appellee’s application was filed on March 26, 1925, and was for a composite mark of which the word “Tex” is the dominating feature, used upon washing and cleaning compounds.

No' testimony was taken by either side, but stipulations were entered into by the parties, agreeing upon the facts relevant to the controversy, as follows:

“Opposer, Lever Brothers Company, is a corporation organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the State of Maine, and is located and does business in the city of Cambridge, County of Middlesex, in the State of Massachusetts. Opposer is the proprietor of United States Certificate of TradeMark .Registration No. 59,032, which was granted January 1,1907, for said trade-mark ‘Lux.’

“For more than fifteen years said trademark ‘Lux’ has been continuously used by Opposer as the name of a compound in Hakes, having detergent, washing and cleansing properties, a specimen of which is produced herewith and marked ‘Opposer’s Package.’

“If Floyd S. Davis, Secretary of Opposer, and other witnesses connected with oppos - er were called, they would give evidence to prove the following:

“Opposer has expended in advertising said ‘Lux’ during the last ten years in excess of Ten Million Dollars.

“The sales of ‘Lux’ during the last ten years have been more than Eight Hundred Million Packages.

“Applicant, Riodela Chemical Company (now by change of name The Tex Company) is a corporation organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the State of Delaware, and is located and does business in the City of Wilmington, County of New Castle, in the State of Delaware.

“Applicant has pending an application, Serial No. 211,707, filed March 26, 1925, published in the Official Gazette of June 8, 1926, for the trade-mark ‘Tex,’ and this applica,tion is involv'ed in this opposition.

“For more than three years said trademark ‘Tex’ has been continuously used by Applicant in interstate commerce on his washing and cleaning compounds, a specimen of which is produced herewith and marked ‘Applicant’s Package.’

“If Edward M. Atwood, President of Applicant, and other witnesses who would corroborate Ms statements were called, they would give evidence showing that:

“Applicant has expended in advertising said trade-mark ‘Tex’ during the last three years in exeess of TMrty Thousand Dollars.

[410]*410“The sales of ‘Tex’ during the last three years have been more than Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds.”

The issues in the case are as follows:

“1. Are the two marks used on goods of the same descriptive.properties?

“2. If so, does the mark of appellee so nearly resemble that of appellant as to be likely to cause confusion or mistake in the mind of the public or to deceive purchasers?”

If both of these questions be answered in the affirmative, appellant must prevail,

Both of the tribunals of the Patent Office found that the marks were used upon goods of the same descriptive properties, and they were clearly right in so holding. The goods of both parties are washing and cleaning compounds. The goods of appellant are in the form of flakes, while those of appellee' are in powdered form. That the goods of both parties are of the same descriptive properties is so clear that it requires no citation of authority as to the rule to be followed in determining this question.

As to the second question, both of the tribunals found that there is no likelihood of confusion or mistake in the use of the two marks.

With due deference to the findings of the Patent Office upon this question, we cannot agree with the conclusion there reached. It is clear to us that the use of these two words of three letters each, each word ending in the letter “x,” upon goods having the same descriptive properties, is likely to cause confusion or mistake in the mind of the public, and we are of the opinion that the word “Tex” was selected in the hope and .belief that such confusion would arise and that appellee would profit thereby. We do not intimate that appellee did not honestly believe that it had a legal right to use the word “Tex”; it undoubtedly was thought that its mark had been differentiated from that of appellant sufficiently to be protected by the law, but that a benefit would be reaped from its close approximation to appellant’s mark. That appellee had knowledge of appellant’s mark at the time it adopted the .word “Tex” is fairly presumed from the facts set out in the stipulations.

The word “Lux” is a unique word. It does not even suggest to the ordinary mind the properties of the goods to which it is applied. Appellee argues that the word “Lux” is from the Latin word “lux,” meaning “light,” while appellee’s mark “Tex” is from the Latin word “texere,” meaning to weave, to construct, and that therefore its word “Tex” is suggestive of cleaning textiles and that of appellant is suggestive of the appearance of material after the cleaning compound of appellant has been applied to it.

While the two words have different origins, we do not think that either word would be ordinarily understood as appellee asserts. We think that the word “Lux” is a mark indicating only origin of the goods made by appellant, and we would be of the same opinion as to the word “Tex” indicating only origin of the goods made by appellee, did it not so nearly resemble the word “Lux” as to be likely to cause confusion with the latter as to the origin of the goods to which the mark is applied.

It must be remembered that the goods to which the marks are applied are of common everyday use in the household. They are very inexpensive and are consumed in their use. Purchasers therefore would not be expected to exercise such degree of care in their purchase as would be exercised in more expensive and rarely purchased articles. International Silver Co. v. American Silver Co. (Cust. & Pat. App.) 37 F.(2d) 622.

If a person heard for the first time of a cleaning material bearing the name of “Lux,” highly recommended, and some time later had occasion to purchase or direct the purchase of a cleaning material, it would not be at all unlikely that a cleaning material bearing the name “Tex” would be accepted in the belief that it was the same as had been recommended to the purchaser.

We think the observations made by the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in the case of Northam Warren Corporation v. Universal Cosmetic Co., 18 F.(2d) 774, 775, are applicable to the ease at bar. The court said:

“While the human mind drops and forgets much that it hears and sees, yet it holds fast to some word, place, name, sign, or symbol contained in an advertisement, through which some human need has been supplied, and that recollection is carried by the people into times and places far removed from the times and places of the publication. * * *

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Lever Bros. Co. v. Riodela Chemical Co.
41 F.2d 408 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1930)

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Bluebook (online)
41 F.2d 408, 17 C.C.P.A. 1272, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lever-bros-co-v-riodela-chemical-co-ccpa-1930.