Liquid Veneer Corporation v. Smuckler

90 F.2d 196, 1937 U.S. App. LEXIS 3786
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedMay 10, 1937
Docket8138
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 90 F.2d 196 (Liquid Veneer Corporation v. Smuckler) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Liquid Veneer Corporation v. Smuckler, 90 F.2d 196, 1937 U.S. App. LEXIS 3786 (9th Cir. 1937).

Opinions

NETERER, District Judge.

The appellee, on December 17, 1931, filed a complaint for libel in the Superior Court of the State of California, Los Angeles County, against the appellant; a New York corporation, in which she alleges that she manufactured and sold a furniture and automobile polish preparation under the name of “French Veneer” and had established a profitable business. That the appellant manufactured and sold furniture polish under the name of “Liquid Veneer.” “That for a long time prior to this date, the defendant [appellant] has continuously and systematically and for the purpose of injuring the reputation and the business conducted by this plaintiff [appellee], caused letters to be mailed to various customers of this plaintiff for the purpose of destroying the business relations that existed between plaintiff and her customers, and that said lettérs were written for the purpose of wilfully and maliciously injuring the good name of the plaintiff and for the further purpose of destroying the business that plaintiff has established in the State of Califbrnia and elsewhere, and that within one year last past the defendant, in furtherance of its plan and scheme to injure and destroy the plaintiff’s good name and reputation did wilfully and maliciously compose, publish and cause to be published a letter addressed to Young’s Mar- . ket Company at Los Angeles, California, which letter reads as follows:

[199]*199“‘Liquid Veneer Corporation

“ ‘London, England — Bridgburg, Canada.

“ ‘Manufacturers of

“ ‘Household Automotive Specialties

“‘Buffalo, N. Y., U. S. A.

“ ‘June 2, 1931.

“ ‘Young’s Market,

“ '7th Street,

“ ‘Los Angeles, California.

“ ‘Atten. General Manager

“ ‘Gentlemen:

“ ‘Our inspector reports your selling and offering for sale a product called “French Veneer,” this is to inform you that our attorneys have advised us this is a flagrant violation of our trademark “Liquid Veneer” as well as our common law rights.

“ ‘We recently found this product on sale at the May Company. We have explained our position to the May Company and they have taken the product off sale and have promised that they will no longer sell it. You perhaps know, or you can ascertain from any patent attorney, that the sale of an infringing product by a dealer or jobber, is looked upon in the United States District Court as contributory infringing, and such dealer or jobber is equally liable with the manufacturer of the product.

“ 'We have had more or less difficulty with these people who manufacture this so-called “French Veneer,” have tried to purchase evidence against them individually, but they moved around from one place to another, denied their identity when we did catch up with them and after investigating them found their financial condition such as would not warrant litigation.

“ ‘It is a different matter, however, where we find a responsible house like yourselves, handling an infringing product, because at the end of a law suit we will be able to collect damages as well as secure a permanent injunction restraining you from ever again selling or offering for sale said infringing goods.

“ ‘When a manufacturer induces you to sell his infringing product, he is selling you a lawsuit. We are not in business to sue people, we much prefer doing them a favor, but you will see that we are only endeavoring to protect our property, just as you or anyone would do if in our position. We therefore request that you immediately discontinue the sale of this infringing product and advise us to that effect promptly.

“ ‘The manufacturer of this product if desirous of building a business rightfully his own, could easily choose many names without taking part of a name belonging to someone else, who has spent a fortune in building up their business under that name.

“ ‘His object for adopting the name “French Veneer” is obvious. He is trying to trade on our rights. We have evidence now of the innocent housewife purchasing “French Veneer” which she had been using for years. This housewife on finding that she had purchased the wrong Veneer returned it to the May company and received the proper genuine “Liquid Veneer.”

“ ‘We will await your prompt reply, and remain, meanwhile,

“ ‘ Yours very truly,

“ ‘Liquid Veneer Corporation

“‘Martin J. Cabana,

“ ‘Vice President.’ ”

That the letter was false, malicious, and defamatory, and the defendant intended to and did convey the meaning that the plaintiff had infringed upon a right that the defendant was exclusively possessed of, and that the plaintiff was wrongfully and unlawfully selling a product to said Young’s Market and other numerous customers of plaintiff, and that the plaintiff was irresponsible, both financially and otherwise, and that she was not a fit person to do business with, and that by reason of said false and malicious letters aforementioned, said Young’s Market, and other numerous customers of the plaintiff, refused to carry on or do any business with the plaintiff and by reason thereof plaintiff and her business have been damaged. Service was had upon the defendant by service, as provided by law for service upon foreign corporations, upon the Secretary of State of California. The cause was removed to the United States District Court on diversity of citizenship. The defendant thereafter appeared specially and moved to quash the service on the ground that it was not shown that the provisions of section 406a of the Civil Code of California for service upon foreign corporations had been complied with. This matter of service and jurisdiction of the court was raised several times during the" course of the procedure in this case. The court, after hearing, denied the motion.

The errors are compr.ehcnded, within the charge of: (a) Noncompliance with requirements of section 406a of the Civil Code of California for service upon for[200]*200eign corporations; (b) that the complaint does not state a cause of action; (c) prejudicial remarks of the trial judge; (d) error in charging the jury; (e) admitting evidence of the witness Waddingham and other witnesses; (f) the verdict of the jury is “wholly erroneous * * “Not supported by the evidence.”

The law supra is not challenged, but only noncompliance or nonapplicability thereof for the reason that appellant did not do business in the state. Section 406a California Civil Code provides that a foreign corporation doing business in the state must by a writing filed with the Secretary of State name some person as its agent upon whom process may be served, and on failure, summons in civil actions may be served upon the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of State, when served with duplicate copies of summons and complaint and payment to him of a fee named, shall immediately notify such corporation by telegraph, charges prepaid, of the service and forward at once the duplicate copies of summons and complaint by registered mail, postage prepaid; and further provides that “the certificate of the Secretary of State, under his official seal, of such service- shall be competent and sufficient proof thereof.” The Secretary of State in this case certified that he made such service and further certified, “That the records of this office do not contain the name- of said defendant corporation, or show the location of his offices.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
90 F.2d 196, 1937 U.S. App. LEXIS 3786, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/liquid-veneer-corporation-v-smuckler-ca9-1937.