Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-07-16
GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES IN TRADE

The United States Circuit Court at Bos-
ton has recently rendered a decision which
Will doubtless prove Of great interest to
merchants and manufacturers throughout
tho country. The subject matter Of the
| litigation was the Wheeling stogy." or,
rather the name OF this odorferous aud
highly Favored cigar. which appears 10
have quite reputation among economi-
cal smokers.
A Boston firm undertook to place an
other class OF the same goods on the
market and not satisfied with the glorious
name OF f,he Hub" for trade purposes,
they also called their cigars wheeling
stogies." As a matter of fact. they were
such in name only. for IL appears that the
"stogy" from our sister State is sui gene
ris and marked by a pronounced In
diyiduality. 80 10 speak The court seems
10 have taken the ground that the ncmen-
clature adopted by The Bostonians was
doceivng-that TO give any product the
name OF a place means that 1t should
be made in on near that place.
IL we mistake not ''st0gies" are rot
aristocratic cigars. For political pur-
poses they may do very well. but here
tofore it has been considered unromanuc
to place them in the mouths Of heroes
In novels: nor DO we hand them around
at our fashionable clubs. But be this as 1t
may. the Wheeling stogy,' whether
good or bad. has helped to establish a
valuable legal precedent. 1t is no uncom-
IA. 10 Al .
their goods by geographical names whlch
fool the gullible public and cause their
product to sell at increased prices. How
often have we bought spurious Hanover
watcrmelons" that were raised in Georgia,
or "Coney Island sausages,' which were
In truth the remains Of our own Nir-
s,nia domestic animals. The Isle oil
Wight people will tell you, too, that their
Smithheld hams are often cOunterieited IN
a way which causes the blush OF shame
10 mantle the cheek of the peanut-eatinS
hogs of that thrifty section. In truth,
If looks as If the public loved to be
cheated. How eagerly they buy the Swiss
clocks made IN Lowell, the frehch
colognes brewed in Philadelphia, the Bor-
deaux wines squeezed from luscious
American grapes, the Habana cigars
made i'm Pittsburg and the Persian rugs
woven in the garnet of the Bowery. we
need judicial protection, for we Will rot
protect ourselves.
Litigation like that involving the
"Nyheeling stogy" has frequently engroSs-
"a .bo ottentiou of our courts.
year or so ago a question OF pretty much
the same sort was raised by certain coal
companies of Pocahontas, Va who en-
Joined a rival firm in the same section
from using the name "Pocahontas' IN
connection with their business because
this nomenclature had already been
adopted by the complanan,s. In this case
the United States Circuit Court held that
geographical names cannot be aprro-
rriated to the exclusive use of any person
or company as a trademark, ana If
adopted as such they must be used SUD
iect 10 the rights of others doing business
I'm the section of country to which il ap-
plies to make like use Of it in matters
properly pertaining to their business in
that locality. As we take it, this Poca-
hontas decision would allow any Wheeling
concern to put Wheeling stogies' ON the
market but would forbid Bostonians from
doing so. because their business is in
different section and by the way, we
wonder if the learned Judges tried any
Of those "stoeies."