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Miller Brewing Co. v. G. Heileman Brewing Co., 561 F.2d 75 | Casetext Search + Citator
Miller Brewing Co. v. Falstaff Brewing Corp.
Accordingly, the court issued an injunction. On appeal, the Seventh Circuit reversed. 561 F.2d 75 (7th Cir.…
Full title:MILLER BREWING COMPANY, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE, v. G. HEILEMAN BREWING…
Date published: Aug 17, 1977
561 F.2d 75 (7th Cir. 1977)
holding that "light" and "lite" are generic adjectives for beer and opining that "[o]therwise a manufacturer could remove a common descriptive word from the public domain by investing his goods with an additional quality, thus gaining the exclusive right to call his wine `rose,' his whisky `blended,' or his bread `white'"
Decided August 17, 1977. Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied September 14, 1977.
In May of 1967 a now defunct Chicago brewer, Meister Brau, Inc., began making and selling a reduced calorie, reduced carbohydrate beer under the name "LITE." Late in 1968 that company filed applications for registration of "LITE" as a trademark on the principal register in the United States Patent Office, which ultimately approved three registrations on the principal register of labels containing the name "LITE" for "beer with no available carbohydrates." Meister Brau continued producing and selling beer under the brand name "LITE" in the Chicago area during 1970 and 1971. In 1971 it changed the label used on cans and bottles to eliminate the words "Meister Brau," which had appeared above the word "LITE."
All three applications were filed in November 1970. The first, Registration No. 905,236, showing a label with only the word "LITE," written in script, was registered December 29, 1970. The second, Registration No. 929,276, showing the words "Meister Brau" in capital letters and underneath the word "LITE" in script similar to the first registration, was registered February 15, 1972. The third, Registration No. 929,277, showing only the word "LITE," written in script similar to that used in the other two registrations, was also registered February 15, 1972.
"Available" in this sense means "capable of being utilized by a[n] . . . animal." Webster's Third New International Dictionary 150 (1971).
Miller then decided to expand its marketing of beer under the brand "LITE." It developed a modified recipe, which resulted in a beer lower in calories than Miller's regular beer but not without available carbohydrates. The label was revised and one of the registrations was amended to show "LITE" printed rather than in script. In addition, an extensive advertising campaign was undertaken. From 1973 through 1976, Miller expanded its annual sales of "LITE" from 50,000 barrels to 4,000,000 barrels and increased its annual advertising expenditures from $500,000 to more than $12,000,000. In support of its motion for a preliminary injunction in this case, Miller submitted the results of a survey which, as the District Court noted in its opinion and order, showed "that between December, 1975 and March, 1976, a substantial percentage of beer drinkers perceived LITE (43%), Miller LITE (11%), or LITE from or by Miller (1%) as a distinct brand name indicative of a low-calorie or less-filling beer."
Registration No. 929,277 was so amended in June 1975.
Since early 1975 a number of other brewers have introduced reduced calorie beers labeled or described as "light." One of these, although not the first, was the defendant G. Heileman Brewing Company, Inc., which began using the name on a beer low in calories but containing available carbohydrates in five test markets in 1976. Heileman had long been engaged in the production and sale of other brands of beer, among which were "Old Style" and "Special Export." The small print on the label Heileman has used for many years for its "Old Style" beer describes that product as "light lager beer."
The beer industry apparently has refrained from describing any of its products as "low-calorie" since 1955, pursuant to the request of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division of the Internal Revenue Service. [Affidavit of James Van Santen, ¶ 9 (Feb. 8, 1977).]
"shall be prima facie evidence of registrant's exclusive right to use the registered mark in commerce on the goods or services specified in the registration subject to any conditions or limitation stated therein . . . ."
Miller does not argue that the mark is incontestable. It could acquire that status only through the filing of an affidavit in the Patent Office under 15 U.S.C. § 1065 (Supp. V 1975).
The basic principles of trademark law which are applicable here have often been stated, e. g., Abercrombie Fitch Co. v. Hunting World, Inc., 537 F.2d 4, 9-11 (2d Cir. 1976); Union Carbide Corp. v. Ever-Ready, Inc., 531 F.2d 366, 378-379 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 830, 97 S.Ct. 91, 50 L.Ed.2d 94 (1976), and may be briefly summarized. A term for which trademark protection is claimed will fit somewhere in the spectrum which ranges through (1) generic or common descriptive and (2) merely descriptive to (3) suggestive and (4) arbitrary or fanciful. As the ease with which hues in the solar spectrum may be classified on the basis of perception will depend upon where they fall in that spectrum, so it is with a term on the trademark spectrum.
A generic or common descriptive term is one which is commonly used as the name or description of a kind of goods. It cannot become a trademark under any circumstances. William R. Warner Co. v. Eli Lilly Co., 265 U.S. 526, 528, 44 S.Ct. 615, 68 L.Ed. 1161 (1924); Henry Heide, Inc. v. George Ziegler Co., 354 F.2d 574, 576 (7th Cir. 1965); CES Publishing Corp. v. St. Regis Publications, Inc., 531 F.2d 11, 13 (2d Cir. 1975). Using the phonetic equivalent of a common descriptive word, i. e., misspelling it, is of no avail. American Aloe Corp. v. Aloe Creme Laboratories, Inc., 420 F.2d 1248, 1252-1253 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 398 U.S. 929, 90 S.Ct. 1820, 26 L.Ed.2d 91, 400 U.S. 820, 91 S.Ct. 37, 27 L.Ed.2d 47 (1970).
A merely descriptive term specifically describes a characteristic or ingredient of an article. It can, by acquiring a secondary meaning, i. e., becoming "distinctive of the applicant's goods" ( 15 U.S.C. § 1052(f)), become a valid trademark. See Abercrombie Fitch Co. v. Hunting World, Inc., supra, 537 F.2d at 10.
Although Miller argued in the District Court that "LITE" was suggestive, and persuaded the District Court that this was so with respect to the quality of being reduced in calories, it conceded in oral argument before us that the choice is between (1) generic or common descriptive and (2) merely descriptive. Miller argues that light beer is not a "genus," indeed that "light," as an adjective, cannot be a generic or common descriptive term, and that it is a merely descriptive term that has acquired a secondary meaning.
In its brief it says that it does not matter whether the term is suggestive or merely descriptive because "either way it is susceptible of appropriation as a trademark for less filling, reduced calorie beers." On this record, this is probably correct, because even if the mark is merely descriptive there is enough evidence of secondary meaning to support the District Court's order. If it were suggestive, proof of secondary meaning would be unnecessary.
The fact that "light" is an adjective does not prevent it from being a generic or common descriptive word. See 1 J. T. McCarthy, Trademarks and Unfair Competition § 12:2 at 409 (1973); Application of Preformed Line Products Co., 323 F.2d 1007, 51 CCPA 775 (1963); Application of Helena Rubinstein, Inc., 410 F.2d 438 (Cust. Pat.App. 1969). See also 3 Callman, The Law of Unfair Competition, Trademarks and Monopolies §§ 70.4, 74.1 (3d ed. 1969), which Miller calls "the leading treatise." This must be the law, given the reason for the rule that precludes appropriation of a common descriptive word, viz., otherwise "a competitor could not describe his goods as what they are." CES Publishing Corp. v. St. Regis Publications, Inc., supra, 531 F.2d at 13. Ordinarily, as here, the adjective which is sought to be appropriated in its generic sense as a trademark will be a part of a name. See, e. g., Roselux Chemical Co. v. Parsons Ammonia Co., 299 F.2d 855, 863, 49 CCPA 931 (1962) ("Sudsy" ammonia). If "light beer" is a generic name, then "light" is a generic word when used as part of that name.
Of course a word that is generic when used in its ordinary sense can be classified at the other end of the spectrum, arbitrary or fanciful, if used in an arbitrary or fanciful sense. Abercrombie Fitch Co. v. Hunting World, Inc., 537 F.2d 4, 10 (2d Cir. 1976).
The record before us (although less complete than that in at least one of the other pending cases) and facts of which we may take judicial notice, including generally accepted English usage, enable us to conclude that "light" is a generic or common descriptive term when used with "beer."
So we are informed by Jos. Schlitz Brewing Co., defendant in that case, and amicus curiae here.
"Light" has been widely used in the beer industry for many years to describe a beer's color, flavor, body, or alcoholic content, or a combination of these or similar characteristics. The use of that word by Heileman and other brewers long antedated either Miller's or Meister Brau's use of "LITE." The definition given in Webster's Third New International Dictionary, supra, at 1308, of "light" as an adjective includes the following:
E. g., cited by the Patent Examiner against Meister Brau's original applications for registration was Storz Brewing Company's registration (circa 1954), "America's Light Refreshing Beer." When Heileman sought to register "America's Great Light Beer," which it had used for its Blatz brand beer since 1970, the Patent Office required a disclaimer of "light beer" as a condition to granting registration.
"10 of a beverage a: having a comparatively low alcoholic content ([light] wines and beers) b: having a low concentration of flavoring congenerics: characterized by a relatively mild flavor: not heavy 11a: capable of being easily digested (a [light] soup) . . . ."
"3. . . . a Easy to be digested; not oppressive to the stomach; as, light food . . . ."
"1 a : a light Bohemian beer with a strong hop flavor b : a beer of a similar type . . . ."
Similar definitions and usage are found in reference works on chemical technology, industry publications, and magazines and newspapers generally. Indeed, state statutes even use "light beer" as a generic or common descriptive term. "Light" is clearly a common descriptive word when used with beer.
37 Okla.Stats. § 506(12), (13) (1951); Utah Stats. §§ 32-4-10, 32-4-14 through 32-4-17 (1953). The word "light" is also used to describe wine with a low alcohol content. 1947 Ark.Stats. § 48-503; D.C. Code § 25-103(c), 25-111, as amended (1977); La.Rev.Stats. § 26:71.1 (1975); 1957 Ann. Code of Md., Article 2B, §§ 2(c), 3, 12A, 13 through 16, as amended (1976); 1972 Ann. Code of Mississippi §§ 67-3-1, 67-3-5, 67-3-13.
Miller argues that it uses the word as the name for "less filling, low calorie" beer, and that "light" has not heretofore been used in that sense. This argument fails for two reasons. First, "less filling" means essentially light in body and taste and not oppressive to the stomach, which is a common descriptive meaning of "light"; and, as Miller conceded in its brief, the caloric content of beer depends primarily on alcoholic content. Second, even if Miller had given its light beer a characteristic not found in other light beers, it could not acquire the exclusive right to use the common descriptive word "light" as a trademark for that beer. Other brewers whose beers have qualities that make them "light" as that word has commonly been used remain free to call their beer "light." Otherwise a manufacturer could remove a common descriptive word from the public domain by investing his goods with an additional quality, thus gaining the exclusive right to call his wine "rose," his whiskey "blended," or his bread "white."
Miller attempted at oral argument to qualify this concession, Heileman having pointed out in its reply brief that "low in calories" adds nothing to "low in alcoholic content." In any event, we can take judicial notice that alcoholic and caloric content go hand in hand.
The word "light," including its phonetic equivalent "lite," being a generic or common descriptive term as applied to beer, could not be exclusively appropriated by Miller as a trademark, "despite whatever promotional effort [Miller] may have expended to exploit it." Henry Heide, Inc. v. George Ziegler Co., supra, 354 F.2d at 576; see Abercrombie Fitch Co. v. Hunting World, Inc., supra, 537 F.2d at 9-10. Because probability of success cannot be established, other issues argued by the parties need not be decided, and the preliminary injunction must be reversed.
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