Vogue Co. v. Vogue Hat Co.

12 F.2d 991, 1926 U.S. App. LEXIS 3432
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedMay 17, 1926
Docket4066
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 12 F.2d 991 (Vogue Co. v. Vogue Hat Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Vogue Co. v. Vogue Hat Co., 12 F.2d 991, 1926 U.S. App. LEXIS 3432 (6th Cir. 1926).

Opinion

DENISON, Circuit Judge.

A bill was filed by tbe plaintiff, a New York corporation, in tbe District Court at Cleveland, against Thompson & Co., a Cleveland corporation, which was retailing bats manufactured by tbe Yogue Hat Company, a New York corporation, and it was alleged that these bats were being sold in violation of the rights indicated by tbe plaintiff’s registered trade-mark and by means of fraudulent and unfair competition.

There was jurisdiction by diverse citizenship as well as by claim of right arising under federal laws.' Upon the petition of the Yogue Hat Company, representing that it was the substantial defendant party in interest, it was allowed to intervene as defendant, and it was thereafter named as one of the joint defendants in the case. 1 It filed no answer, but it completely assumed and carried on the defense of the ease. On final hearing the District Court dismissed the bill as to both parties defendant, because it found no infringement of trade-mark rights and no unfair competition. On appeal to this court we affirmed the finding in the first respect, but reversed as to unfair competition. 300 F. 509. The New York defendant filed a petition for review on the merits of the unfair competition question, which we denied. The plaintiff then applied for more specific directions as to the form of the decree, and this de *992 veloped a controversy in which we eventually went somewhat further than the original opinion had in giving plaintiff effective relief. 6 F.[2d] 875. Now the New York defendant .moves again for rehearing,- and for the first time contends that, when all relief upon the basis of rights dependent on the registered trade-mark was denied, the court below and this court as well had no jurisdiction remaining to consider or decide the question of unfair competition. • This contention is based on the line of cases hereafter considered-; it is at least superficially supported by the authorities cited, and must be accepted unless there is specific reason for its rejection. Such reasons as suggest themselves are to be considered.

The first is that, after its voluntary appearance in the case and litigating to the end upon the merits, this defendant cannot be heard to question the power of the court to decide the very question which has been so litigated. This probably depends upon how far the defect in jurisdiction may be a matter of venue or of personal jurisdiction, rather than of the subject-matter. The peculiar facts of the ease develop an interesting and perhaps unique aspect of this question; but it may for the present be passed by.

The next is whether under these peculiar facts the jurisdiction over the question of unfair competition as affecting the New York defendant may be considered as ancillary or incidental to the original cause. It is not usual for the more substantial controversy to be ancillary to one of lesser importance, and yet this result may well occur, 'Here there was equally complete jurisdiction by diverse citizenship over both grounds of the controversy which the plaintiff presented by its bill. The original defendant had done those acts which justified the final decree and order, so far as it was concerned. If the New York defendant, without formal intervention, but with plaintiffs knowledge, had assumed and paid for the defense, it would have been bound by the result, so far as that result could be rested on the acts of the Ohio defendant. It is clear to us that the New York defendant by its intervening petition thus presented a controversy growing out of and ancillary to the original bill in every necessary characteristic, even though the volume of matter affected was greater.

A late and complete discussion of the controlling principle is found in Wichita v. Commission, 260 U. S. 48, 53, 54, 43 S. Ct. 51, 67 L. Ed. 124. See, also, Lackner v. McKeehney (C. C. A. 7) 252 F. 403, 408, 164 C. C. A. 327. The present ease is to be distinguished from those where the intervener was a necessary party defendant, or where the intervention presented a-new controversy not covered by the original bill. The New York defendant was not a necessary party, and the questions, not only as to the registered trade-mark, but as to the definition of unfair competition, are in a very substantial way the same against it which they were as against the Ohio defendant. Upon this principle of ancillary jurisdiction, we think the court below has power, pursuant to our mandate, to enter a decree for injunction against the New York defendant, and this in spite of the conclusion that it does not infringe any registered trade-mark.

Our disposition of the present application might rest upon what has been said; but the case presents another question, important and interesting enough to justify study. That question is, with reference to the rule that a federal court, the jurisdiction of which is invoked between citizens of the same state solely because a patent or registered trademark is being infringed, after deciding that controversy against the plaintiff, cannot proceed to give relief upon the ground of unfair competition, whether this rule extends not only to the cases where the patent or registered trade-mark has been held invalid, but to those eases where, though valid, it is found not to be infringed. This involves ascertaining the reason why the right to consider that further ground of relief has been denied by the Supreme Court in certain instances.

It is a familiar principle that, when the, jurisdiction of a federal trial court is invoked upon the ground that the plaintiff presents a right arising under federal laws, the court thereby acquires jurisdiction of the case, and it examines and decides all questions involved, even though the federal question may be resolved against the plaintiff or may be passed without decision. It was redeclared, with many citations, in Siler v. L. & N. R. R., 213 U. S. 175, 191, 192, 29 S. Ct. 451, 53 L. Ed. 753, and it was again formulated in Davis v. Wallace, 257 U. S. 478, 482, 42 S. Ct. 164, 165 (66 L. Ed. 325), as follows:

“The case made by the bill involved a real and substantial question under the Constitution of the United States, and the amount in controversy exceeded $3,000, exclusive of interest and costs, so the case plainly was cognizable in the District Court. In such a case the jurisdiction of that court, and ours in reviewing its action, extends to every question involved, whether of federal or state law, and *993 enables the court to rest its judgment or decree on the decision of such of the questions as in its opinion effectively dispose of - the case.”

We have applied the principle in this court (General Co. v. L. S. & M. S., 269 F. 235, 241; State v. Swift, 270 F. 141, 150, 151), and it continues to be of constant application in the Supreme Court. In Lincoln Co. v. Lincoln, 250 U. S. 256, 264, 39 S. Ct. 454, 456 (63 L. Ed.

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Bluebook (online)
12 F.2d 991, 1926 U.S. App. LEXIS 3432, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vogue-co-v-vogue-hat-co-ca6-1926.