Simmons Co. v. Baker

200 F. Supp. 149, 131 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 312, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6075
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedNovember 15, 1961
DocketCiv. A. No. 58-1014-S
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 200 F. Supp. 149 (Simmons Co. v. Baker) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Simmons Co. v. Baker, 200 F. Supp. 149, 131 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 312, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6075 (D. Mass. 1961).

Opinion

McCARTHY, District Judge

(retired, by designation).

Findings of Fact A. The Suit

1. This is an action for infringement of federally protected trademarks, for infringement of trademarks protected by the common law, and for unfair competition. The important defenses relied upon were laches and the doctrine of unclean hands, the unclean hands allegedly arising from violations of the provisions of the Lanham Act by the plaintiff corporation in that the plaintiff corporation allegedly used its registered trademarks in attempted monopolization in violation of the anti-trust laws and in that the plaintiff corporation attempted to monopolize the motel mattress trade in violation of the anti-trust laws, and further, that the plaintiff corporation’s SCAP program constituted a violation of the provisions of the Robinson-Patman Act, 15 U.S.C.A. § 13 et seq.

After an extensive trial, which covered fifty days in all, at which parties litigant were represented by most competent [150]*150and courteous counsel, briefs were prepared and the merits argued.

B. The Parties and Their Origins

2. Plaintiff originally was founded as a manufacturing concern in Wisconsin before 1884 by G. Simmons under the name “Northwestern Wire Mattress Company” and commenced the manufacture of woven wire mattresses. In 1884 the “Northwestern Wire Mattress Company” a corporation of Wisconsin, was formed to succeed to the business of Z. G. Simmons. In 1899 the Wisconsin corporation, “The Simmons Manufacturing Company”, succeeded to the business. In 1915 the plaintiff “Simmons Company” was organized as a Delaware corporation to succeed to the business and assets of “The Simmons Manufacturing Company”.

3. The management of Plaintiff and its predecessor companies has always been in the family of the founder Z. G. Simmons, each president has had the surname “Simmons”. The president of the company is a great grandson of the founder.

4. Since 1899, when the name of the business became “The Simmons Manufacturing Company”, Plaintiff and its predecessor have used the name “Simmons” as a trademark on substantially all of the goods which Plaintiff has manufactured, also as a trade name, to identify goods sold by Plaintiff.

5. Defendant Abraham Baker is a Massachusetts citizen. He does business as “Simmonds Upholstering Company”. He is owner of the corporate Defendants Simmonds Upholstering Company, Inc., and New England Upholstering Company, Inc., and always owned the controlling shares of the defendant Simmonds Sales System, Inc. All corporate Defendants were organized under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

6. Defendant Simmonds Upholstering Co., Inc., was organized in 1950, and about 1952 it became the sales branch of the furniture business conducted by the Defendant Abe Baker. It sells upholstered furniture and re-upholstering service to the public in the New England States, New York and formerly in Pennsylvania. Defendant Simmonds Upholstering Co., Inc., also purchases and owns, the upholstery fabrics used in the manufacturing process by Defendant New England Upholstering Company.

7. Defendant New England Upholstering Company was organized in 1946. It. was and is the manufacturing arm of Abraham Baker, doing' business as Sim-monds Upholstering Company, and since-1952 has performed the same function-for Defendant Simmonds Upholstering Co., Inc.

8. Abraham Baker, doing business as. Simmonds Upholstering Company, concerns itself chiefly with the salvaging of furniture taken from customers of Simmonds Manufacturing Co., Inc., and! the salvaging of waste materials from the manufacturing operation.

9. Defendant Simmonds Sales System is now dissolved but it was still a corporation for purposes of suit against it at the time this action was brought. It was organized in 1950 by Abraham-Baker to expand the business through a system of franchises which were granted to established upholsterers and re-upholsterers in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan and which gave the franchise holders the right of defendants to use the name “Simmonds”,, together with methods, know-how and other services of defendants.

C. General Description of The Business Activities of Parties To This Action

10. Plaintiff manufactures furniture-including bedding products, living room furniture convertible into beds, various-types of upholstered furniture for institutions which include private schools, and colleges, hotels, and motels, and upholstered living room furniture of a nonconvertible nature since 1958, all of which-are sold under the name “Simmons” throughout the United States.

11. Furniture manufactured by Plaintiff includes bed springs, bed steads, [151]*151mattresses, cabinet beds, and in-a-door beds; various kinds of upholstered furniture convertible to beds, such as day beds, lounges, sofa beds, and the like; hospital beds and other institutional furniture including chairs, cabinets, dressers, chests, wardrobes, etc.; upholstered furniture of various types for general use; and wood and metal furniture of many kinds.

12. Plaintiff has thirteen manufacturing plants located throughout the United States from East to West, including one at Medford, Massachusetts, and three in other Eastern coastal states. It has sixty-six distribution warehouses. Plaintiff does, and has done for many years, a substantial volume of wholesale business in furniture and bedding nationally and in the New England area.

12(a). Plaintiff’s annual volume of business nationally and in the New England area was as follows:

13. Plaintiff has spent . great sums in advertising its products and in establishing the name SIMMONS in the mind of the public. In the last twenty years, it has spent an average of two million dollars per year for advertising. Most of this expenditure was for advertising in magazines of national circulation, and in all such advertisements, the Plaintiff’s name “Simmons” was prominently displayed.

14. Plaintiff’s name and reputations are well known to householders throughout the United States. Its right to the name “Simmons” has been vindicated in controversies against persons or concerns who have used the name “Simmons” or simulations thereof on related merchandise and who either discontinued or were .enjoined from such use.

15. Abraham Baker began a retail furniture business in Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1935 under the name “Baker Furniture Company” which he continued until 1945. Baker began the upholstering business under the name “Simmonds Upholstering Company” in about 1943, on the premises of Baker Furniture Company. When he began the Simmonds Upholstering Company, in 1943, it is the considered judgment of the Court that the Defendant Baker knew and had known the Plaintiff’s activities in this field and its reputation.

16. Plaintiff and Defendants are in competition in the sale of furniture. Plaintiff sells new upholstered furniture to retailers who sell it to the public. Defendants reupholster old furniture and also manufacture new upholstered furniture which they sell to the public by inducing customers to order their furniture restyled. Some of this “restyled” furniture is also sold direct as new furniture.

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200 F. Supp. 149, 131 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 312, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6075, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/simmons-co-v-baker-mad-1961.