W. R. Lynn Shoe Co. v. Auburn-Lynn Shoe Co.

62 A. 499, 100 Me. 461, 1905 Me. LEXIS 91
CourtSupreme Judicial Court of Maine
DecidedNovember 16, 1905
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 62 A. 499 (W. R. Lynn Shoe Co. v. Auburn-Lynn Shoe Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Judicial Court of Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
W. R. Lynn Shoe Co. v. Auburn-Lynn Shoe Co., 62 A. 499, 100 Me. 461, 1905 Me. LEXIS 91 (Me. 1905).

Opinion

Whitehouse, J.

This cause in equity comes to the law court upon the appeal of the defendant corporation from a final decree enjoining it from an unlawful use of the plaintiff’s trade-mark and trade-name, and upon the plaintiff’s exceptions to that portion of the decree respecting the extent of the liability of the defendant corporation to account for the profits of its business.

The material facts established by the finding of the court are as follows:

The plaintiff corporation has been engaged in business in Auburn, Maine, since 1898, manufacturing ladies’ boots and shoes under several styles, among which are “Comfort” and “Common Sense.” The corporation was named for W. It. Lynn, who was an experienced manufacturer of shoes, a stockholder in the company until about the first of 1903, and the superintendent of manufacture for several years. He continued his services with-the corporation until June 5, 1903. In November, 1899, the corporation adopted the name, “Auburn Lynn Shoes,” as the name of a part of its product, and that name was used as a general name for the entire product, for two or three years prior to the bringing of this bill, and became the trade-name of the plaintiff’s manufactured product. In June, 1903, the plaintiff adopted a trade-mark in the form of the following device:

A cut was made and the trade-mark printed in a booklet in the early part of 1903, and five thousand copies of it were sent out for the use of the trade. The trade-mark stamp was applied to the plaintiff’s shoes for the first time in June, 1903. The plaintiff also extensively used the term “Auburn Lynn Shoes” upon its labels, postal cards, envelopes, bill heads, letter heads, orders, blanks, circulars and [465]*465slips, upon which the words Auburn-Lynn Shoes, made by the W. E. Lynn Shoe Co., Auburn, Maine,” were made very prominent. In the trade-mark and trade-name, “Auburn-Lynn Shoes,” the word “Auburn” signified the city of Auburn, the place of manufacture, and the word “Lynn” signified W. E. Lynn, the superintendent of manufacture in the plaintiff corporation. The defendants Lunn and Eeed were salesmen for the plaintiff, each having assigned to him certain territory in the western states.

July 9, 1903, the defendants, Lunn, Lynn and one Sweet, organized the defendant corporation under the name of “The Auburn-Lynn Shoe Company'.” Lynn was President, Lunn, Treasurer, and Lynn, Lunn, and Sweet directors. The Auburn-Lynn Shoe Company entered into business in Auburn near the place of business of the W. E. Lynn Shoe Company. The names “Auburn” and “Lynn” in the name of the corporation, were intended to represent the name of the city of Auburn, Maine, and the name “Lynn” the defendant W. E. Lynn, who was known as a manufacturer. The defendant company, soon after its organization, adopted the following trade-mark:

and used it upon the first goods sent out under date of September 4, 1903. The Auburn-Lynn Shoe Company made styles of goods similar to those manufactured by the W. E. Lynn Shoe Co., under the name of “Common Sense” and “Old Ladies” shoes, etc., but they were not identical, though many styles were not readily distinguishable. The Auburn-Lynn Shoe Company in July and August, sent letters to the old customers of the plaintiff calling attention to the fact that W. E. Lynn had ceased to be connected with the plaintiff company, and that a new corporation had been formed. Eeference was made, however, to the “improved styles” to be manufactured by [466]*466the Auburn-Lynn Shoe Company. Circulars, made after this bill was filed and served, were put in the first cartons shipped by the defendant company, and were also sent by mail 'to the former customers of the W. It. Lynn Shoe Co. They were headed with the trademark of the Auburn-Lynn Shoe Co., and contained no reference ■ to the fact that Mr. Lynn had ceased to be connected with the W. It. Lynn Shoe Co., or that the Auburn-Lynn Shoe Company was not the same manufacturer as the plaintiff. But they contained the following sentence: “Our Common Sense shoes are noted for softness and excellent wearing qualities, and have brought comfort to thousands of women troubled with aching and tender feet.” At the time this circular was first issued, the Auburn-Lynn Shoe Company had sold no goods.

As a result of these circumstances, the plaintiff in the fall of 1903 found unusual difficulty in selling in its old territory. Many of its old customers gave orders to the new company, and also much confusion arose in regard to the mail intended to be addressed to the plaintiff. Before the organization of the defendant company, letters intended for the plaintiff had been addressed to the W. it. Lynn Shoe Company and the Auburn-Lynn Shoe Company; but after the new company was organized, it claimed to receive and did receive and open all ■ letters addressed to the Auburn-Lynn Shoe Company. When the Auburn-Lynn Shoe Company commenced business it provided the old customers of the W. R. Lynn Shoe Co., with envelopes addressed to “the Auburn-Lynn Shoe Company,” and apparently some of those envelopes were used by the customers of the plaintiff in sending orders and remittances. At least thirty-two letters, between August 4, 1903, and the time of hearing this bill in March, 1904, intended for the plaintiff, but addressed to the Auburn-Lynn Shoe Company, came into the hands of the defendant corporation. They contained orders, checks and general correspondence, some on the defendant’s printed, addressed envelopes, and some in writing. They were mostly from old customers, and from the letters the defendant company obtained information concerning the business of the plaintiff.

On the fifteenth day of September, 1903, after this bill was brought, the defendant corporation changed its name to the “Lunn & Lynn [467]*467Shoe Co,” but it continued to use the old stationery and copies of the printed trade-mark, substituting “Lunn &” for “Auburn,” in red ink, the word “Auburn” being crossed, but not obliterated.

The defendant Need was employed by the defendant company as salesman, and has covered practically the same territory as he did with the old company. It was the understanding that he should visit the old customers of the plaintiff and he did so. The defendant Lunn acted as salesman for the defendant company from September until into November, covering his old territory. After September 22, 1903, no goods were billed by the defendant company.under the name of the Auburn-Lynn Shoe Co., but under the name of the Lunn & Lynn Shoe Co. After the change of name one order only appears to have been taken by the defendant’s salesman on the order blanks of the Auburn-Lynn Shoe Co.

The inference and legal conclusions deducible from the findings of fact are thus stated by the presiding Judge before whom the testimony was taken. “I rule that the term “Auburn-Lynn Shoes,” adopted by the plaintiff and affixed by it to its goods, as a combination was a valid trade-mark, and trade-name, though it was in part geographical. I hold that the plaintiff had acquired by use an exclusive right to the name “Auburn-Lynn shoes” as a trade-mark and trade-name.

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Bluebook (online)
62 A. 499, 100 Me. 461, 1905 Me. LEXIS 91, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/w-r-lynn-shoe-co-v-auburn-lynn-shoe-co-me-1905.