Loughran v. Quaker City Chocolate & Confectionery Co.

286 F. 694, 1923 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1817
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedFebruary 15, 1923
DocketNo. 2493
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 286 F. 694 (Loughran v. Quaker City Chocolate & Confectionery Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Loughran v. Quaker City Chocolate & Confectionery Co., 286 F. 694, 1923 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1817 (E.D. Pa. 1923).

Opinion

DICKINSON, District Judge.

This cause as presented is one in which the mind cannot rest with satisfaction upon any conclusion which can be reached. This is because the real controversy between the parties has not as yet been brought before a court. The present struggle is for position. The effort of the defendant is to retain a tactical ad[695]*695vantage of position from which it can fight the real battle. That battle, if it is ever fought, will be waged over the question of whether either of the parties has trespassed upon the rights of the other. If that question were now before us, the road to a satisfactory answer could be followed. If, indeed, in this preliminary skirmish, the question were whether the defendant should be given the tactical advantage sought, this road would not be obstructed. The defendant, however, has already been given this advantage of position, and the question is whether the plaintiff has the right to the aid of the law in driving the defendant out, or to be given as good a defensive position from which the impending battle may be fought.

The battle to come is between two trade-marks. The defendant has not only been allowed registration of its trade-mark, but the plaintiff has been denied her claimed right to a like registration. The present bill is filed under R, S. 4915 (Comp. St. §' 9460). The proceeding is thus in effect, although not in form, appellate. It is appellate in effect because under R. S. 4915, the decree of any District Court, if it becomes final, may work a reversal of a decree of the court in the District of Columbia, which may have denied the allowance of registration. More than this, not only has the court, whose decree worked this reversal, no appellate authority over the court which denied the registration, but the latter court is specially constituted and fitted by training and experience to deal with the subject-matter. There is demanded in consequence more than the usual deference, due to a ruling made by another court. The judicial power deals not- merely with legal rights but with the policies of the law. These policies are real things. One is to avoid all conflicts of judicial opinion. Appellate courts are constituted to minimize this recognized evil. When a question has once been squarely raised and decided by one court, for the sake of conformity a second court, before which the same question is raised, should make a like ruling, if the first ruling can be accepted. The fact, if it be the fact, that without the first ruling the second might or would have been different, is not controlling. Judicial judgments, however, are not wholly of volition. They call for the display of the quality of intellectual honesty, and imply that they express the real convictions of the mind which renders them upon the whole situation, including, of course, the earlier ruling. The guide then to what should be done is found in the ansiver to the other question of whether the first judgment can be conscientiously accepted. If it can be, it should be. What reason thus indicates all the authorities confirm. Morgan v. Daniels, 153 U. S. 120, 14 Sup. Ct. 772, 38 L. Ed. 657; Greenwood v. Dover, 194 Fed. 91, 114 C. C. A. 169; Old Lexington Club Distillery Co. v. Kentucky Distilleries & Warehouse Co. (D. C.) 234 Fed. 464; Gold v. Gold, 237 Fed. 84, 150 C. C. A. 286; Gold v. Newton, 254 Fed. 824, 166 C. C. A. 270.

The Question Presented.

It is to be noted that the question before the court for the District of Columbia and the question before us was and is a much narrower question than that discussed at the argument. It is not the judicial [696]*696question of whether the plaintiff has a right to the use of the trade-mark which she claims, nor even whether her trade-mark conflicts with that of the defendant. The question is the administrative one of whether, in view of the fact that the defendant’s trade-mark has been registered, it is wise to allow the registration of another so similar as that confusion is likely to result. The ruling is analogous to that of the authority to grant letters patent to corporations. If letters patent are applied for granting incorporation by a name so like that of an existing corporation that confusion is likely to result, the authority passing upon the question is in the exercise of a wise discretion in refusing to be a party to creating such an opportunity for deception. Thi? does not imply a finding that the first corporation has the exclusive right to a name within reach of the choice of any one, although this is in a substantial sense a consequence of the refusal to sanction a second incorporation by the same name. It is easy to get in line with this thought and in accord with the ruling made when viewed from this point of view. The whole question is whether this is, under the facts of the instant case, the right view point. This takes us to the facts.

The Tact Situation.

There is no controversy over the facts. Tong before either of the parties before us had any rights in the premises, a man-known to this record as Doniphan adopted and used a trade-mark, which he also had duly registered. He was a manufacturer and dealer in candies and connections, which he sold under the trade-name of the “Quaker Brand,” in conjunction with the figure of a man arrayed in what passed for the well-known Quaker garb. It was not until 1893 that the defendant first adopted and used, as the name under which it marketed its candies, that of “The Quaker City,” with the figure of a man oh a gold seal. This, after 10 years’ use, was registered on August 7, 1906; the applicant being then able to comply with the condition upon which words carrying a geographical designation might be registered. About 1912 the plaintiff adopted and began the use of her trade-mark, consisting of the words “Quaker Maid,” with a girl clad as a Quaker maiden was supposed to be clothed. Application was made to have this trade-mark registered. Up to this time none of the persons concerned knew of any claim to a trade-mark by either of the others. The above-mentioned “Quaker Brand” trade-mark then came to light. The owner of this first trade-mark had gone out of business and abandoned both his common-law and statutory rights and thus passed from consideration. The application of the plaintiff was then passed for publication. This brought the defendant into opposition. The examiner, to whom the application of the plaintiff was referred, refused it on the ground, already indicated, that the two trade-marks were likely to cause confusion. The Commissioner took the other view and allowed registration. An appeal was taken to the proper court of the District of Columbia, and the ruling of the Commissioner was reversed and the application for registration rejected. Plaintiff thereupon filed the present bill. It might be added that up to the present time the plain[697]*697tiff has done an exclusively retail trade and the defendant a whole- ■ sale. Either, however, may at any.time enter upon the field of the other.

The Pleadings.

The bill prays for a decree allowing the registration applied for by the plaintiff, and also for a decree that the defendant’s certificate of registration be surrendered and marked canceled. The defendant moved to dismiss that part of the bill on which this second prayer was based. This motion was denied, the question raised being reserved to be ruled as a trial question. The issues indicated were then raised by answer. ,

Discussion.

At the root of the discussion lies the general subject of trademark rights.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
286 F. 694, 1923 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1817, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/loughran-v-quaker-city-chocolate-confectionery-co-paed-1923.