Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/240/251/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 10:04:07+00:00

Document:
Justia › US Law › US Case Law › US Supreme Court › Volume 240 › Hamilton-Brown Shoe Co. v. Wolf Brothers & Co.
The words "The American Girl" as applied to women's shoes is not a geographical or descriptive term signifying that the articles are manufactured in America, or intended to be sold therein; nor does it indicate qualities or characteristics of the article.
their product, and as such it is subject to appropriation as a trademark for that purpose.
The record in this case shows that the term "American Girl" was legitimately appropriated and used as a trademark by the complainant and those under whom it claims.
The jurisdiction of this Court to review judgments and decrees of the circuit courts of appeals on certiorari under § 240, Jud.Code, is to be exercised sparingly and only in cases of peculiar gravity and general importance and in order to secure uniformity of decision, and the refusal of the application is in no case equivalent to affirmance.
The fact that the decree sought to be reviewed is not a final one furnishes sufficient ground for refusing the petition.
On certiorari, this Court is called upon to notice and rectify any error that may have occurred in interlocutory proceedings, and is not bound to consider that an interlocutory decree settled the law of the case because it refused to review it on certiorari.
The right to use a trademark is property of which the owner is entitled to exclusive enjoyment to the extent that it has been actually used, and an infringer is required in equity to account for and yield up his gains to the true owner.
In this case, held that one using the label "American Lady" for shoes manufactured and sold by it infringed the rights of complainant as owner of the trademark "American Girl."
While the decree of the court below was based on profits gained by defendant in unfair competition by using an imitation of complainant's label and not for infringement of trademark, as the proofs and findings were as applicable to a claim of compensation for infringing a trademark to which complainant is found entitled, the decree may be affirmed.
Where defendant is not an innocent infringer and an apportionment between profits attributable to infringing the trademark and those attributable to intrinsic merit of his own article is inherently impossible, complainant is not limited in his recovery to the former, nor is the burden on him to show what such portion of the profits was.
The owner of the trademark is on every principle of reason and justice entitled to so much of the profit as resulted from its use, and it is more consonant with reason and justice that he should have all the profit than that he should be deprived of any portion thereof by the fraudulent act of the infringer.
entitled, there is no sufficient reason for disturbing the decree based on rulings of the master in this case.
The facts, which involve rights of the owner of a trademark and the liability of one infringing it and other questions, are stated in the opinion.
as applied to shoes was not the subject of a valid trademark. But the court held that complainant was entitled to be protected against unfair trade; that the record disclosed that it and its predecessors in business had employed the words "The American Girl" as a trademark continuously since the year 1896, had extensively advertised their shoes under that name, with the catch phrase "A shoe as good as its name," in trade journals and newspapers throughout the United States, and largely throughout the southern states, and thus established an extensive trade therefor, and that defendant, by adopting in the year 1900 and thereafter using the name "The American Lady," with certain catch phrases, in connection with shoes made by it, and this with full knowledge of complainant's rights, was guilty of unfair competition, tending to and resulting in confusion in the trade, and that complainant was entitled to relief. The decree of the circuit court was therefore reversed, with directions to decree an injunction and an accounting limited to the time since the commencement of the suit.
Complainant petitioned this Court for a writ of certiorari to review that decision, but this was denied. 214 U.S. 514.
"limited to shoes sold by the defendant since the filing of the bill in this case, and which were marked with the name 'American Lady,' and not accompanied with any other matter clearly indicating that such shoes were of the manufacture of the Hamilton-Brown Shoe Company."
its damages, declaring that they were practically incapable of exact computation. All the testimony was directed to the question of defendant's profits.
Class 1. 974,016 pairs of shoes bearing the words "American Lady" stamped upon the sole, and bearing no other impression or distinguishing mark. The profits upon these were found to be $254,401.72.
Class 2. 961,607 pairs of shoes marked "American Lady," with the words "Hamilton-Brown Shoe Co.," but without the word "Makers," or other matter indicating that the shoes were of defendant's manufacture. The profits upon these were found to be $190,909.83.
Class 3. 593,872 pairs of shoes marked "American Lady," but bearing also the marks "Hamilton-Brown Shoe Co., Makers." The profits upon these were found to be $132,740.77.
The master recommended that a judgment be entered for the profits accruing from the first two classes, aggregating $445,311.55. The profits accruing from the third class he held complainant was not entitled to recover under the opinion of the court of appeals and the decree of the circuit court, entered in accordance with it. Both parties having filed exceptions, the district court (successor of the circuit court), overruled those of complainant, sustained those of defendant, and adjudged a recovery of $1 nominal damages. 192 F. 930.
reversed the decree, with directions that defendant's exceptions to the master's report be overruled, that the report be confirmed, and that a decree be entered against defendant for the amount recommended by him, with costs, 206 F. 611.
This writ of certiorari having been allowed, we proceed to deal with the questions presented by the record.
Regarding the case as one of unfair competition without trademark infringement, it is insisted by petitioner that the normal recovery does not include the gains and profits of defendant, according to the rule admittedly applicable in equity to trademark cases, but that the injured party is limited to such damages as it shows it has sustained, and that the present case is devoid of circumstances to take it out of the ordinary rule.
predecessors to designate shoes of their manufacture. We are convinced that it was subject to appropriation for that purpose, and it abundantly appears to have been appropriated and used by complainant and those under whom it claims.
The cases cited to the contrary are distinguishable. In Canal Co. v. Clark, 13 Wall. 311, 80 U. S. 324, the word "Lackawanna" was rejected as a trademark for coal because it designated the district in which the coal was produced. In Columbia Mill Co. v. Alcorn, 150 U. S. 460, 150 U. S. 466, it was held that "Columbia" could not be appropriated for exclusive use as a trademark because it was a geographical name. So, with respect to "Elgin," as designating watches, Elgin Natl. Watch Co. v. Illinois Watch Co., 179 U. S. 665, 179 U. S. 673; "Genesee," claimed as a trademark for salt, Genesee Salt Co. v. Burnap, 73 F. 818; "Old Country," as a mark for soap, Allen Wrisley Co. v. Iowa Soap Co., 122 F. 796. If the mark here in controversy were "American Shoes," these cases would be quite in point. (And see Shaver v. Heller & Merz Co., 108 F. 821, 826.) But "The American Girl" would be as descriptive of almost any article of manufacture as of shoes -- that is to say, not descriptive at all. The phrase is quite analogous to "American Express," held to be properly the subject of exclusive appropriation as a trademark for sealing wax in Dennison Mfg. Co. v. Thomas Mfg. Co., 94 F. 651, 653.
appeals by certiorari under § 240, Jud. Code, derived from § 6 of the Evarts act of March 3, 1891, 26 Stat. 828, c. 517. As has been many times declared, this is a jurisdiction to be exercised sparingly, and only in cases of peculiar gravity and general importance, or in order to secure uniformity of decision. Lau Ow Bew, Petitioner, 141 U. S. 583, 141 U. S. 587; In re Woods, 143 U. S. 202; Lau Ow Bew v. United States, 144 U. S. 47, 144 U. S. 58; Amer. Const. Co. v. Jacksonville Ry., 148 U. S. 372, 148 U. S. 383; Forsyth v. Hammond, 166 U. S. 506, 166 U. S. 514; Fields v. United States, 205 U. S. 292, 205 U. S. 296. And, except in extraordinary cases, the writ is not issued until final decree. American Const. Co. v. Jacksonville Railway, 148 U. S. 372, 148 U. S. 378, 148 U. S. 384; The Three Friends, 166 U. S. 1, 166 U. S. 49; The Conqueror, 166 U. S. 110, 166 U. S. 113; Denver v. N.Y. Trust Co., 229 U. S. 123, 229 U. S. 133. The decree that was sought to be reviewed by certiorari at complainant's instance was not a final one, a fact that of itself alone furnished sufficient ground for the denial of the application, besides which it appears, by reference to our files, that the application was opposed by the present petitioner upon the ground that the case, however important to the parties, involved no question of public interest and general importance, nor any conflict between the decisions of state and federal courts, or between those of federal courts of different circuits.
v. Napier Shipping Co., 166 U. S. 280, 166 U. S. 284; United States v. Denver & R.G. R. Co., 191 U. S. 84, 191 U. S. 93; Lutcher & Moore v. Knight, 217 U. S. 257, 217 U. S. 267; Messenger v. Anderson, 225 U. S. 436, 225 U. S. 444.
after the commencement of the suit, and excludes all sales where the term "American Lady" was accompanied with any other matter clearly indicating that such shoes were of the manufacture of the Hamilton-Brown Shoe Company. It was construed to exclude all shoes bearing, in addition to "American Lady," the marks "Hamilton-Brown Shoe Co., Makers." The account was based upon undisputed data, and no reason is suggested why, if otherwise accurate, it is not as properly applicable upon the theory of trademark as upon that of unfair competition aside from trademark infringement -- at least, so far as defendant is entitled to criticize it; complainant is not attacking the decree.
so that plaintiff's patent creates only a part of the profits, he is entitled to recover only that part, and must give evidence tending to apportion the profits between the patented and unpatented features. But, as pointed out in the Westinghouse case (p. 225 U. S. 618), there is a recognized exception where the plaintiff carries the burden of proof to the extent of showing the entire profits, but is unable to apportion them, either because of the action of the wrongdoer in confusing his own gains with those which belong to plaintiff or because of the inherent impossibility of making an approximate apportionment. There, "on established principles of equity, and on the plainest principles of justice, the guilty trustee cannot take advantage of his own wrong."
the commodity in the market and how much from the credit given to it by the trademark. In the very nature of the case, it would be impossible to ascertain to what extent he could have effected sales and at what prices except for the use of the trademark. No one will deny that, on every principle of reason and justice, the owner of the trademark is entitled to so much of the profit as resulted from the use of the trademark. The difficulty lies in ascertaining what proportion of the profit is due to the trademark, and what to the intrinsic value of the commodity, and as this cannot be ascertained with any reasonable certainty, it is more consonant with reason and justice that the owner of the trademark should have the whole profit than that he should be deprived of any part of it by the fraudulent act of the defendant. It is the same principle which is applicable to a confusion of goods. If one wrongfully mixes his own goods with those of another, so that they cannot be distinguished and separated, he shall lose the whole, for the reason that the fault is his, and it is but just that he should suffer the loss, rather than an innocent party, who in no degree contributed to the wrong."
To the same effect are Avery v. Meikle, 85 Ky. 435, 448; El Modello Cigar Mfg. Co. v. Gato, 25 Fla. 886, 915; Regis v. Jaynes, 191 Mass. 245, 249-251; Shoe Co. v. Shoe Co., 100 Me. 461, 479; Saxlehner v. Eisner & Mendelson Co., 138 F. 22, 24.
"represent allowances made by the wholesale house of Hamilton-Brown Shoe Company on goods shipped by it to what is known as the 'Boston House,' being a separate and distinct corporation from the defendant company, and the amount received by the Hamilton-Brown Shoe Company from the 'Boston House' for goods shipped to it was $73,772.03 and $103,075.14 less than the price at which the goods were billed to that house, and those items do not represent moneys paid by the Hamilton-Brown Shoe Company to the 'Boston House,' or advances by the Hamilton-Brown Shoe Company to the 'Boston House.'"
If, in the master's calculation of the profits, defendant had been charged with sales of the goods at the prices at which they were billed to the Boston House, the insistence that a deduction of $10,271.69 ought to be allowed as being in the nature of a trade discount would seem correct. But that is not made to appear, and we cannot conclude that the master erred in overruling this allowance.
THE CHIEF JUSTICE and MR. JUSTICE VAN DEVANTER are of opinion that the term "The American Girl," as applied to women's shoes made and sold in America, is geographical and descriptive, and not subject to exclusive appropriation as a trademark, and that, upon this record, a recovery of the entire profits is not admissible. They therefore dissent.

References: v. 
 § 240
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 § 240
 § 6
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 

v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.