Wyndham Co. v. Wyndham Hotel Co.

176 Misc. 2d 116, 670 N.Y.S.2d 995, 1997 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 684
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 31, 1997
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 176 Misc. 2d 116 (Wyndham Co. v. Wyndham Hotel Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wyndham Co. v. Wyndham Hotel Co., 176 Misc. 2d 116, 670 N.Y.S.2d 995, 1997 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 684 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1997).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Norman C. Ryp, J.

a. ISSUES

“Y”, as in “Wyndham”, is a crooked letter, consistent with its 1450 English origin, history, geography and genealogy! “I”, as in ‘Windham”, is a straight letter and self-possessive pronoun consistent with the parties’ battle for exclusive use of its name and mark in the middle east of Manhattan. The exclusive use of the Wyndham” (also known as Windham) name and mark are common, but competitive, objects in this complex intellectual property battle since 1992. It links a “world famous” family hotel, sited in Manhattan, with a north and central American hotel chain, based in Texas, with issues of novel impression. Such includes: Whether unsolicited or celebrity media coverage, sales success, length and exclusivity of use and likelihood of confusion show sufficient secondary meaning to the name Wyndham”.

B. PROCEDURAL HISTORY AND FACTS, C. HISTORY, D. PARTIES’ contentions and e. the trial are set forth in the filed decision and order and edited for publication.

F. DISCUSSION, APPLICABLE LAW AND FINDINGS

As noted in this court’s decision/order dated August 12, 1996 (affd 236 AD2d 220 [1st Dept 1997]), the name Wyndham” is a surname and a geographic term, though not extensively or primarily, but sufficiently to raise the issue of “secondary meaning”. The traditional factors include: (1) advertising expenditures; (2) consumer surveys; (3) sales success; (4) unsolicited media coverage; (5) attempts to plagiarize the mark; and (6) length and exclusivity of use. (See, Centaur Communications v A/S/M Communications, 830 F2d 1217, 1223 [2d Cir 1987].) Plaintiffs’ proof was very strong on factor numbers 3, 4 and 6 (19-20 years) above, moderate on factor number 5, and weak on factor numbers 1 and 2. (See, 124, infra.)

However, according to recent case law, secondary meaning may be obviated for injunctive relief under the Lanham Act (15 [118]*118USC § 1051 et seq.; § 1114 [1]; § 1125 [a]) where there is a likelihood of, if not actual, confusion. (See, Polaroid Corp. v Polarad Elecs. Corp., 287 F2d 492 [2d Cir 1961], cert denied 368 US 820 [1961]; Resource Developers v Statute of Liberty-Ellis Is. Found., 926 F2d 134 [2d Cir 1991].) As Professor J. Thomas McCarthy observes, “secondary meaning and likelihood of buyer confusion, although two separate legal issues, will be difficult to distinguish in viewing the evidence.” (2 McCarthy, Trademarks and Unfair Competition § 15.03.) Thus, “[p]roof of instances of actual confusion of buyers may suffice either to prove the existence of secondary meaning, or may itself be sufficient to warrant judicial relief without even considering secondary meaning” (2, 3 McCarthy, Trademarks and Unfair Competition § 15.04 [4] [b]; § 23.02 [1] [4th ed 1997]), or at common law (Allied Maintenance Corp. v Allied Mech. Trades, 42 NY2d 538, 543 [1977]).

Numerous American courts have previously recognized the interdependence between secondary meaning and confusion, finding evidence of one the equivalent of the other. (See, e.g., Interpace Corp. v Lapp, Inc., 721 F2d 460, 465 [3d Cir 1983] [“proof of one is proof of the other”]; American Scientific Chem. v American Hosp. Supply Corp., 690 F2d 791, 793 [9th Cir 1982] [“actual confusion is an indicium of secondary meaning”].)

Moreover, where it is shown that a defendant did not adopt its mark in “good faith”, as shown here, proof of secondary meaning is not required to obtain relief for common-law unfair competition. (Coach Leatherware Co. v AnnTaylor, Inc., 933 F2d 162, 169 [2d Cir 1991] [reaffirming the rule that a showing of secondary meaning is not necessary to prove unfair competition under New York common law]; Perfect Fit Indus, v Acme Quilting Co., 618 F2d 950, 953-954 [2d Cir 1980], cert denied 459 US 832 [1982].)

Polaroid (287 F2d 492, 495, supra) sets forth a still applicable balancing test with respect to “likelihood of confusion” of the following eight factors, including the: (1) strength of the mark; (2) degree of similarity between the two marks; (3) proximity of the products; (4) likelihood the senior user of the mark (or prior owner) will bridge the gap; (5) evidence of actual confusion; (6) junior user’s evidence of bad faith (or reciprocal of its good faith) in adopting the mark; (7) quality of the junior user’s mark and/or product; and (8) sophistication of the relevant consumer’s group (buyers). (See, Estee Lauder, Inc. v The Gap, 108 F3d 1503 [2d Cir 1997].)

[119]*119No one of the Polaroid factors is dispositive, and the list is not exhaustive; “the analysis of the factors is ‘not a mechanical process.’ ” (Arrow Fastener Co. v Stanley Works, 59 F3d 384, 391 [2d Cir 1995]; see, Gruner + Jahr USA Publ. v Meredith Corp., 991 F2d 1072,1077 [2d Cir 1993].) A trial court’s finding as to each factor is one of fact, subject to review for a clearly erroneous standard.

1. Strength of the Mark

The strength of a mark is “the distinctiveness of the mark, or more precisely, its tendency to identify the goods sold under the mark as emanating from a particular, although possibly anonymous source”, “or its ‘origin-indicating’ quality, in the eyes of the purchasing public.” (McGregor-Daniger Inc. v Drizzle Inc., 599 F2d 1126, 1131 [2d Cir 1979].) Its assessment uses two factors: (1) the degree to which it is inherently distinctive; and (2) the degree to which it is distinctive in the marketplace. (W.W.W. Pharm. Co. v Gillette Co., 984 F2d 567, 572 [2d Cir 1993].) “ ‘[Sjtrength’ * * * ultimately depends on the degree to which the designation is associated by prospective purchasers with a particular source.” (Restatement [Third] of Unfair Competition § 21, comment i [1995].)

In Abercrombie & Fitch Co. v Hunting World (537 F2d 4, 9 [2d Cir 1976]), Judge Henry J. Friendly, to gauge the inherent distinctiveness of a mark, created a spectrum of trademark protection into four categories, ranging from least to most protection under the Lanham Act: (1) generic — a common description of goods and never protected; (2) descriptive— describes the product’s features, qualities or ingredients in ordinary language protected only with secondary meaning; (3) suggestive — uses terms which do not describe but merely suggest the features of the product; it requires the purchaser to use imagination, thought and perception to reach a conclusion as to the nature of goods; it signifies to the public the generic name other than the source of a particular brand of that article and is protected without proof of secondary meaning; (4) arbitrary or fanciful — always protected without proof of secondary or dictionary meaning and with ease of establishing infringement. (Abercrombie & Fitch Co. v Hunting World, supra, at 11; see also, Gruner + Jahr USA Publ. v Meredith Corp., supra, at 1075-1076.)

“Where the products * * * are competitive and the marks quite similar * * * the senior user of a more-than-descriptive mark need not prove secondary meaning.” (McGregor-Doniger [120]*120Inc. v Drizzle Inc., supra, at 1132; American Home Prods, v Johnson Chem. Co., 589 F2d 103, 106 [2d Cir 1978].) Surely the Mados Wyndham Hotel has an arbitrary or fanciful mark and is protected without secondary meaning.

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Bluebook (online)
176 Misc. 2d 116, 670 N.Y.S.2d 995, 1997 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 684, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wyndham-co-v-wyndham-hotel-co-nysupct-1997.