Miller v. Anchor Packing Co.

4 F.2d 595, 1925 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 967
CourtDistrict Court, D. New Jersey
DecidedFebruary 17, 1925
DocketNo. 3700
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 4 F.2d 595 (Miller v. Anchor Packing Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Miller v. Anchor Packing Co., 4 F.2d 595, 1925 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 967 (D.N.J. 1925).

Opinion

LYNCH, District Judge.

This litigation involves the use of the trade-mark “Tamil” as applied to certain high-pressure sheet packing made of asbestos and rubber. Prior to 1904, the Ungarisehe Gummiwaarenfabrik Actiengesellsehaft, a corporation of Austria-Hungary, which we shall hereinafter refer to as the “Hungarian Company,” had established the sale of “Tamil” in the United States of America, and on July 5,1904, registered the trade-mark here for a period of 30 years.

On September 24, 1908, the Hungarian company designated the Anchor Packing Company of Delaware, the predecessor of the defendant Anchor Packing Company, as its exclusive selling agent for “Tamil” iu. and for the United States of America and Mexico. Under this agreement the Hungarian company shipped “Tamil” to this country, which was sold by the Anchor Company under its exclusive agency. The shipments were marked, “ ‘Tamil/ patented in United Kingdom, France, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Germany,” with numbers of the patents.

In 1911, the present Anchor Packing Company (defendant) succeeded to the business of the Anchor Packing Company of Delaware.

The European War of 1914 interrupted the shipping of this packing from Hungary, but in February, 1915, the attorney in faet of the Hungarian company in this country made an agreement with the defendant Anchor Packing Company, giving it “permission to use our trade-mark ‘Tamil’ on high-pressure sheet packing until such time as we are able to supply you with this material in New York, through the Strobel & Wilken Company, who will give you thirty (30) days’ notice to discontinue.” After fixing prices, the agreement continued:

“As soon as the Hungarian Rubber Goods Company, Budapest, will be able to ship Tamil to the United States again, you will be properly notified, and you must agree to accept within thirty (30) days the entire stock of packing that is being held there for your account.
“It must be further understood, that all the American packing, that is stamped ‘Tauril/ cannot be sold as imported.”

Within one month after war with Germany was declared by Congress (May 11, 1917), a second supplemental agreement was signed, changing the price from 55 cents per pound to 54 cents, but leaving the royalty accruing to the Hungarian Company at 6 cents per pound.

On October 6, 1917, the Trading with the Enemy Act (Comp. St. 1918, Comp. St. Ann. Supp. 1919, §§ 3115½a-3115½j) was approved. Those sections which relate to this cause will be referred to hereinafter.

On October 12, 1917, the President, by executive order, vested the functions assigned to him by section 10 (e) and 10 (d) of the Trading with the Enemy Act (section S115½ee) in the Federal Trade Commission. The Federal Trade Commission thereafter established rules relating to licenses for the use of trade-marks.

[596]*596On December 7,1917, by Joint Resolution, war was declared on Austria-Hungary. Five days thereafter .(December 12, 1917) the defendant Anchor Packing Company applied to the Federal Trade Commissi rm for a license for the exclusive use of the trade-mark “Tauril,” which the Hungarian company had registered July 5, 1904. We shall quote some important provisions of this application. After referring to the agreements of September, 1908, February, 1915, and May, 1917, the application continues:

“From the date of the original agreement (September 24, 1908) up to the year 1915, the said packing bearing the trade-mark ‘Tauril’ was manufactured by the said Hungarian Rubber Goods Factory, Limited, in Budapest, Hungary, and by it exported to the said Strobel & Wilken Company, its only authorized agent resident at New York City, N. Y. Said packing was kept in storage by the Strobel & Wilken Company. The packing was sold by the applicant and its said predecessor under its own name direct to the trade and shipments were made by the Strobel & Wilken Company, in accordance with orders received from the applicant and its said predecessor, to the branch offices of applicant and its said predecessor, from which shipments were in turn made direct to the customers of applicant and its said predecessor. The bills for said packing so sold were rendered to the customers by and in the name of the applicant and its said predecessor and payment was made by the customers direct to the applicant and its said predecessor.
“Since the year 1915 applicant has had manufactured for it, and has sold direct to the trade, under its own name, rubber and asbestos packing under the name ‘Tauril/ In accordance with the said first supplemental agreement, after bills for the manufacture of said packing were rendered to applicant by the manufacturer, applicant rendered bills for the same amount to the said the Strobel & Wilken Company, who paid the amount of the same to applicant and who rendered to applicant bills for a larger amount, the difference representing the amount of the agreed royalty or'license fee for the exclusive use and enjoyment by applicant of the said trade-mark. Since the date of the second supplemental agreement (May 11, 1917), the said royalty or license fee agreed to and paid by applicant has been at the rate of six cents per pound.
“ * * * For a period of over nine consecutive years, packing under the trade-mark ‘Tauril’ has been sold in this country exclusively by applicant and its said predecessor in business and the trade-mark has been associated by the trade exclusively with applicant and its said predecessor of the same name. In other words, all the incidents of trade-mark ownership, save the actual technical title to the registered trade-mark, are in applicant and have been in applicant for over nine years. * * * It is for the public benefit that this exclusive license be granted, because thereby the public will be assured that in purchasing packing under the name ‘Tauril,’ it will receive identically the same product that it has heretofore bought under that name. The packing is used for jointing as applied to pipes and other steam joints and is required by manufacturera of all kinds including those making munitions of war. The demand for the article is steady and has not been substantially affected by the war.
“ * * * In the event of the grant of this license it is proposed to charge the trade the same price which it is now paying unless the cost of manufacture should substantially increase. The said prices are as follows:
“$1.25 per pound for packing one-sixteenth and one-eighth inch thick.
“$1.50 per pound for packing one-thirtyseeond inch thick. * * *
“The license desired, being for the use of a trade-mark, is necessarily exclusive, and it is desired for the duration of the registered trade-mark aforesaid. * * * Inasmuch as for nine years applicant has in fact enjoyed the exclusive use of the trade-mark and inasmuch as the owner of the registered trade-mark cannot itself use the same in this country, and inasmuch as some one other than the owner must exclusively use the said trade-mark during the continuance of the war if the said trade-mark rights are not to be abandoned and forfeited to the public, it is submitted that justice and equity require that applicant should be permitted to enjoy that right subject to the payment of the same royalty or license fee that it has heretofore paid by agreement with the owner of the registered trade-mark, namely, six cents per pound.

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Bluebook (online)
4 F.2d 595, 1925 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 967, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/miller-v-anchor-packing-co-njd-1925.