Source: https://www.legalcrystal.com/case/106010/park-n-fly-inc-vs-dollar-fly
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Document Index: 373394386

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 33', '§ 34', '§ 37', '§ 15', '§ 1065', '§ 33', '§ 15', '§ 14', '§ 1064', '§ 14', '§ 4', '§ 1054', '§ 2', '§ 1052', '§ 33', '§ 22', '§ 1072', '§ 14', '§ 33', '§ 1115', '§ 34', '§ 1116', '§ 37', '§ 1119', '§ 11', '§ 37', '§ 1052', '§ 2', '§ 1052', '§ 1119', '§ 33', '§ 33', '§ 1115', '§ 33', '§ 1119', '§ 33', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 33', '§ 33', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 1115', '§ 15', '§ 1065', '§ 15', '§ 14', '§ 1064', '§ 2', '§ 1052', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 33', '§ 1124', '§ 1526', '§ 1337']

Park N Fly Inc Vs Dollar Park and Fly Inc - Citation 106010 - Court Judgment | LegalCrystal
Park N' Fly Inc. Vs. Dollar Park and Fly, Inc. - Court Judgment
LegalCrystal Citation legalcrystal.com/106010
Case Number 469 U.S. 189
Appellant Park N' Fly Inc.
Respondent Dollar Park and Fly, Inc.
park n' fly inc. v. dollar park and fly, inc. - 469 u.s. 189 (1985) u.s. supreme court park n' fly inc. v. dollar park and fly, inc., 469 u.s. 189 (1985) park n' fly inc. v. dollar park and fly, inc., 469 u.s. 189 (1985) no. 83-1132 argued october 9, 1984 decided january 8, 1985 469 u.s. 189 certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the ninth circuit syllabus petitioner operates long-term parking lots near airports in st. louis cleveland, houston, boston, memphis, and san francisco. in 1969, petitioner applied to the united states patent and trademark office to register a service mark consisting of the logo of an airplane and the words "park 'n fly." the registration issued in 1971, and nearly six years.....
Park N' Fly Inc. v. Dollar Park and Fly, Inc. - 469 U.S. 189 (1985)
U.S. Supreme Court Park N' Fly Inc. v. Dollar Park and Fly, Inc., 469 U.S. 189 (1985)
Held: The holder of a registered mark may rely on incontestability to enjoin infringement, and an infringement action may not be defended on the grounds that the mark is merely descriptive. Pp. 469 U. S. 193 -205.
(a) The Lanham Act nowhere distinguishes between a registrant's offensive and defensive use of an incontestable mark, but, on the contrary, § 33(b)'s declaration that the registrant has an "exclusive right" to use the mark indicates that incontestable status may be used to enjoin infringement. The Act's language also refutes any conclusion that an incontestable mark may be challenged as merely descriptive. Pp. 469 U. S. 193 -197.
(b) Nothing in the Lanham Act's legislative history supports a departure from the plain language of the provisions concerning incontestability. Indeed, a conclusion that incontestable status may provide the basis for enforcement of the registrant's exclusive right to use a mark promotes the Act's goals in providing national protection of trademarks in order to secure to the mark's owner the goodwill of his business and to protect the ability of consumers to distinguish among competing producers. Pp. 469 U. S. 197 -202.
(c) There is no merit to respondent's argument that the Court of Appeals' decision should be upheld because trademark registrations are issued after an ex parte proceeding and generally without inquiry into the merits of an application. The facts of this case belie the suggestion that registration is virtually automatic, and respondent is simply wrong to suggest that third parties do not have an opportunity to challenge applications for trademark registration. The power of courts under § 34 of the Lanham Act to grant injunctions "according to principles of equity" does not encompass a substantive challenge to the validity of an incontestable mark on the grounds that it lacks secondary meaning. Otherwise, the meaning of "equity" would be expanded to the point of vitiating the Act's more specific provisions. Similarly, the power of courts to cancel registrations and "otherwise rectify the register" under § 37 of the Act must be subject to the specific provisions concerning incontestability. Pp. 469 U. S. 202 -203.
(d) The Court of Appeals was not justified in relying on its decision in Tillamook County Creamery v. Tillamook Cheese & Dairy Assn., 345 F.2d 158, cert. denied, 382 U.S. 903, for the proposition that a registrant may not rely on incontestability to enjoin the use of a mark. Pp. 469 U. S. 203 -205.
O'CONNOR, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BURGER, C.J., and BRENNAN, WHITE, MARSHALL, BLACKMUN, POWELL, and REHNQUIST, JJ., joined. STEVENS, J., filed a dissenting opinion, post, p. 469 U. S. 206 .
Petitioner operates long-term parking lots near airports. After starting business in St. Louis in 1967, petitioner subsequently opened facilities in Cleveland, Houston, Boston, Memphis, and San Francisco. Petitioner applied in 1969 to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (Patent Office) to register a service mark consisting of the logo of an airplane and the words "Park 'N Fly." [ Footnote 1 ] The registration issued in August 1971. Nearly six years later, petitioner filed an affidavit with the Patent Office to establish the incontestable status of the mark. [ Footnote 2 ] As required by § 15 of the Trademark Act of 1946 (Lanham Act), 60 Stat. 433, as amended, 15 U.S.C. § 1065, the affidavit stated that the mark had been registered and in continuous use for five consecutive years, that there had been no final adverse decision to petitioner's claim of ownership or right to registration, and
This ease requires us to consider the effect of the incontestability provisions of the Lanham Act in the context of an infringement action defended on the grounds that the mark is merely descriptive. Statutory construction must begin with the language employed by Congress and the assumption that the ordinary meaning of that language accurately expresses the legislative purpose. See American Tobacco Co. v. Patterson, 456 U. S. 63 , 456 U. S. 68 (1982). With respect to incontestable trade or service marks, § 33(b) of the Lanham Act states that "registration shall be conclusive evidence of the registrant's exclusive right to use the registered mark" subject to the conditions of § 15 and certain enumerated defenses. [ Footnote 3 ]
Section 15 incorporates by reference subsections (c) and (e) of § 14, 15 U.S.C. § 1064. An incontestable mark that becomes generic may be canceled at any time pursuant to § 14(c). That section also allows cancellation of an incontestable mark at any time if it has been abandoned, if it is being used to misrepresent the source of the goods or services in connection with which it is used, or if it was obtained fraudulently or contrary to the provisions of § 4, 15 U.S.C. § 1054, or §§ 2(a)-(c), 15 U.S.C. §§ 1052(a)-(c). [ Footnote 4 ]
Respondent argues, however, that enforcing petitioner's mark would conflict with the goals of the Lanham Act because the mark is merely descriptive and should never have been registered in the first place. [ Footnote 5 ] Representative Lanham,
These arguments are unpersuasive. Representative Lanham's remarks, if read in context, clearly refer to the effect of the defenses enumerated in § 33(b). [ Footnote 6 ] There is no question that the Lanham Act altered existing law concerning trademark rights in several respects. For example, § 22,
15 U.S.C. § 1072, provides for constructive notice of registration and modifies the common law rule that allowed acquisition of concurrent rights by users in distinct geographic areas if the subsequent user adopted the mark without knowledge of prior use. See Hanover Star Milling Co. v. Metcalf, 240 U. S. 403 , 240 U. S. 415 -416 (1916) (describing pre-Lanham Act law). Similarly, § 14 cuts off certain grounds for cancellation five years after registration and thereby modifies the previous rule that the validity of a trademark could be attacked at any time. See White House Milk Products Co. v. Dwinell-Wright Co., 27 C. C. P. A. (Pat.) 1194, 111 F.2d 490 (1940). Most significantly, Representative Lanham himself observed that incontestability was one of "the valuable new rights created by the act." 92 Cong.Rec. 7524 (1946).
The dissent echoes arguments made by opponents of the Lanham Act that the incontestable status of a descriptive mark might take from the public domain language that is merely descriptive. Post at 469 U. S. 214 -216. As we have explained, Congress has already addressed concerns to prevent the "commercial monopolization," post at 469 U. S. 214 , of descriptive language. The Lanham Act allows a mark to be challenged at any time if it becomes generic, and, under certain circumstances, permits the non-trademark use of descriptive terms contained in an incontestable mark. Finally, if "monopolization" of an incontestable mark threatens economic competition, § 33(b)(7), 15 U.S.C. § 1115(b)(7), provides a defense on the grounds that the mark is being used to violate federal
The Lanham Act, as the dissent notes, post at 469 U. S. 217 , authorizes courts to grant injunctions "according to principles of equity." § 34, 15 U.S.C. § 1116. Neither respondent nor the opinion of the Court of Appeals relies on this provision
to support the holding below. Whatever the precise boundaries of the courts' equitable power, we do not believe that it encompasses a substantive challenge to the validity of an incontestable mark on the grounds that it lacks secondary meaning. To conclude otherwise would expand the meaning of "equity" to the point of vitiating the more specific provisions of the Lanham Act. [ Footnote 7 ] Similarly, the power of the courts to cancel registrations and "to otherwise rectify the register," § 37, 15 U.S.C. § 1119, must be subject to the specific provisions concerning incontestability. In effect, both respondent and the dissent argue that these provisions offer insufficient protection against improper registration of a merely descriptive mark, and therefore the validity of petitioner's mark may be challenged notwithstanding its incontestable status. Our responsibility, however, is not to evaluate the wisdom of the legislative determinations reflected in the statute, but instead to construe and apply the provisions that Congress enacted.
Tillamook discussed in dicta the offensive/defensive distinction and observed that incontestability protects a registrant against cancellation but cannot be used to obtain relief from an infringing use. Tillamook 's authority for this proposition was John Morrell & Co. v. Reliable Packing Co., 295 F.2d 314, 316 (CA7 1961), which did reverse a finding of infringement on the grounds that incontestable status confers only defensive rights. The Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit based its holding in John Morrell on Rand McNally & Co. v. Christmas Club, 105 U.S.P.Q. 499 (1955), aff'd, 44 C. C. P. A. 861 (Pat.), 242 F.2d 776 (1957), but the latter case did not in fact involve the use of an incontestable mark in an enforcement action.
the incontestable status of the mark in an infringement action, Union Carbide concluded, and a " [d]efendant faced with an incontestable registered mark cannot defend by claiming that the mark is invalid because it is descriptive.'" Id. at 377 (quoting 1 J. McCarthy, Trademarks and Unfair Competition § 11.16, p. 377 (1st ed.1973)).
The dissent similarly takes the position that the mark as improperly issued because it as descriptive and petitioner failed to prove that it had secondary meaning. Post at 469 U. S. 206 -207. Neither the District Court nor the Court of Appeals made any finding whether the mark was properly issued in 1971. After the Patent Office denied the initial application for registration in 1970, petitioner filed a request for reconsideration arguing that the mark was not descriptive. App. 54-56. The Patent Office subsequently granted registration without specifying whether the mark had secondary meaning or instead was not descriptive. Id. at 57-59. Unlike the dissent, we decline to determine in the first instance whether the mark improperly issued. Our holding is not affected by the possibility that the mark was or has become merely descriptive.
In trademark law, the term "incontestable" is itself somewhat confusing and misleading because the Lanham Act expressly identifies over 20 situations in which infringement of an allegedly incontestable mark is permitted. [ Footnote 2/1 ] Moreover, in § 37 of the Act, Congress unambiguously authorized judicial review of the validity of the registration "in any action involving a registered mark." [ Footnote 2/2 ] The problem in this case arises because of petitioner's attempt to enforce as "incontestable" a mark that Congress has plainly stated is inherently unregisterable.
The mark "Park 'N Fly" is at best merely descriptive in the context of airport parking. [ Footnote 2/3 ] Section 2 of the Lanham Act
The violation of the literal wording of the Act also contravened the central purpose of the entire legislative scheme. Statutory protection for trademarks was granted in order to safeguard the goodwill that is associated with particular enterprises. [ Footnote 2/4 ] A mark must perform the function of distinguishing the producer or provider of a good or service in order to have any legitimate claim to protection. A merely descriptive mark that has not acquired secondary meaning does not perform that function because it simply "describes the qualities or characteristics of a good or service." Ante at 469 U. S. 194 . No legislative purpose is served by granting anyone a monopoly in the use of such a mark.
The word "incontestable" is not defined in the Act. Nor, surprisingly, is the concept explained in the Committee Reports on the bill that was enacted in 1946. [ Footnote 2/5 ] The word itself implies that it was intended to resolve potential contests between rival claimants to a particular mark. And, indeed, the testimony of the proponents of the concept in the Committee hearings that occurred from time to time during the period when this legislation was being considered reveals that they were primarily concerned with the problem that potential contests over the ownership of registrable marks might present. [ Footnote 2/6 ] No one ever suggested that any public purpose would be served by granting incontestable status to a mark that should never have been accepted for registration in the first instance.
In those hearings the witnesses frequently referred to incontestability as comparable to a decree quieting title to real property. [ Footnote 2/7 ] Such a decree forecloses any further contest over ownership of the property, but it cannot create the property itself. Similarly the incontestability of a trademark
precludes any competitor from contesting the registrant's ownership, but cannot convert unregistrable subject matter into a valid mark. Such a claim would be clearly unenforceable. [ Footnote 2/8 ]
The case that petitioner principally urges in support of reversal, Union Carbide Corp., v. Ever-Ready, Inc., supra, does not conflict with this simple proposition. The court there was dealing with a contest between two companies over the name "Eveready." There was no question that the name had acquired a well-established secondary meaning, although it was not originally registered under § 1052(f). [ Footnote 2/9 ] The problem presented in such a case is properly resolved by
The legislative history of the incontestability provisions indicates that Congress did not intend to prevent the use of mere descriptiveness as a substantive defense to a claim of infringement if the mark has not acquired secondary meaning. The testimony in the Committee hearings concerning the public interest in preventing the grant of monopoly privileges in the use of merely descriptive phrases expressly relied on the administrative practice that was incorporated into § 2(f), 15 U.S.C. § 1052(f), [ Footnote 2/10 ] as a protection against the improper registration of merely descriptive marks. Thus, Dr. Karl Pohl testified:
"Now, if you look at the problem from that point of view, you will see that the apprehensions of Mr. Handler are more or less obviated. I believe personally that they are completely obviated, but as to nontechnical trademarks and only a very carefully circumscribed number of trade-marks will be entitled to that protection. [ Footnote 2/11 ]"
No matter how dedicated and how competent administrators may be, the possibility of error is always present, [ Footnote 2/12 ] especially in nonadversary proceedings. [ Footnote 2/13 ] For that reason,
the Court normally assumes that Congress intended agency action to be subject to judicial review unless the contrary intent is expressed in clear and unambiguous language. [ Footnote 2/14 ] In this statute Congress has expressed no such intent. On the contrary, it has given the courts the broadest possible authority to determine the validity of trademark registrations "in any action involving a registered mark." [ Footnote 2/15 ] The exercise of that broad power of judicial review should be informed by the legislative purposes that motivated the enactment of the Lanham Act. [ Footnote 2/16 ]
Congress enacted the Lanham Act "to secure trade-mark owners in the goodwill which they have built up." [ Footnote 2/17 ] But without a showing of secondary meaning, there is no basis upon which to conclude that petitioner has built up any goodwill that is secured by the mark "Park 'N Fly." In fact, without a showing of secondary meaning, we should presume
that petitioner's business appears to the consuming public to be just another anonymous, indistinguishable parking lot. When enacting the Lanham Act, Congress also wanted to "protect the public from imposition by the use of counterfeit and imitated marks and false trade descriptions." [ Footnote 2/18 ] Upon this record there appears no danger of this occurrence, and as a practical matter, without any showing that the public can specifically identify petitioner's service, it seems difficult to believe that anyone would imitate petitioner's marks, or that such imitation, even if it occurred, would be likely to confuse anybody. [ Footnote 2/19 ]
On the basis of the record in this case, it is reasonable to infer that the operators of parking lots in the vicinity of airports may make use of the words "park and fly" simply because those words provide a ready description of their businesses, rather than because of any desire to exploit petitioner's goodwill. [ Footnote 2/20 ] There is a well-recognized public interest in prohibiting the commercial monopolization of
phrases such as "park and fly." When a business claims the exclusive right to use words or phrases that are a part of our common vocabulary, this Court should not depart from the statutorily mandated authority to "rectify the register," 15 U.S.C. § 1119, absent a clear congressional mandate. Language, even in a commercial context, properly belongs to the public unless Congress instructs otherwise. [ Footnote 2/21 ] In this case we have no such instruction; in fact, the opposite command guides our actions: Congress' clear insistence that a merely descriptive mark, such as "Park 'N Fly" in the context of airport parking, remain in the public domain unless secondary meaning is proved.
The Court relies on three different, though not unrelated, arguments to support its negative answer to the question "whether an action to enjoin the infringement of an incontestable mark may be defended on the grounds that the mark is merely descriptive," ante at 469 U. S. 191 : (1) the language of § 33(b) is too plain to prevent any other conclusion; (2) the legislative history indicates that Congress decided not to deny incontestable status to merely descriptive marks; and (3) the practical value of incontestable status would be nullified if the defense were recognized. Each of these arguments is unpersuasive.
After the right to use a registered mark has become incontestable, § 33(b) provides that "the registration shall be conclusive evidence of the registrant's exclusive right to use the registered mark." 15 U.S.C. § 1115(b). Read in isolation, this provision surely does lend support to the Court's holding. Indeed, an isolated and literal reading of this language would seem to foreclose any non-statutory defense to an action to enjoin the infringement of an incontestable mark. The Court, however, wisely-refuses to adopt any such rigid interpretation of § 33(b). [ Footnote 2/22 ]
15 U.S.C. § 1119. Moreover, it is well established that injunctions do not issue as a matter of course, [ Footnote 2/23 ] and that "the essence of equity jurisdiction has been the power of the Chancellor to do equity," [ Footnote 2/24 ] particularly when an important public interest is involved. [ Footnote 2/25 ]
In exercising its broad power to do equity, the federal courts certainly can take into account the tension between the apparent meaning of § 33(b) and the plain command in §§ 2(e), (f) of the Act prohibiting the registration of a merely descriptive mark without any proof of secondary meaning. Because it would be "demonstrably at odds with the intent of [Congress]" [ Footnote 2/26 ] to grant incontestable status to a mark that was not eligible for registration in the first place, the Court is surely authorized to require compliance with § 2(f) before granting relief on the basis of § 33(b). [ Footnote 2/27 ]
This history is unpersuasive because it is perfectly clear that the failure to include mere descriptiveness among the grounds for challenging incontestability was based on the understanding that such a mark would not be registered without a showing of secondary meaning. See supra, at 469 U. S. 210 -211. To read Congress' failure as equivalent to an endorsement of incontestable status for merely descriptive
The Court suggests that my reading of the Act "effectively emasculates § 33(b) under the circumstances of this case." Ante at 469 U. S. 197 . But my reading would simply require the owner of a merely descriptive mark to prove secondary meaning before obtaining any benefit from incontestability. If a mark is in fact "distinctive of the applicant's goods in commerce" as § 2(f) requires, that burden should not be onerous. If the mark does not have any such secondary meaning, the burden of course could not be met. But if that be the case, the purposes of the Act are served, not frustrated, by requiring adherence to the statutory procedure mandated by Congress. [ Footnote 2/28 ]
In sum, if petitioner had complied with § 2(f) at the time of its initial registration, or if it had been able to prove secondary meaning in this case, I would agree with the Court's disposition. I cannot, however, subscribe to its conclusion that the holder of a mark which was registered in violation of an unambiguous statutory command "may rely on incontestability to enjoin infringement." Ante at 469 U. S. 205 ; see also ante at 469 U. S. 196 . Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.
Section 33(b) enumerates seven categories of defenses to an action to enforce an incontestable mark. See 15 U.S.C. § 1115(b), quoted ante at 469 U. S. 194 , n. 3. In addition, a defendant is free to argue that a mark should never have become incontestable for any of the four reasons enumerated in § 15. 15 U.S.C. § 1065. Moreover, § 15 expressly provides that an incontestable mark may be challenged on any of the grounds set forth in subsections (c) and (e) of § 14, 15 U.S.C. § 1064, and those sections, in turn, incorporate the objections to registrability that are defined in §§ 2(a), 2(b), and 2(c) of the Act. 15 U.S.C. §§ 1052(a), (b), and (c).
Although the Court appears to speculate that even though the mark is now merely descriptive it might not have been merely descriptive in 1971 when it as first registered, see ante at 469 U. S. 198 -199, n. 5, I find such speculation totally unpersuasive. But even if the Court's speculation were valid, the entire rationale of its opinion is based on the assumption that the mark is in the "merely descriptive" category. See, for example, the statement of the question presented, ante, at 191.
"Except as expressly excluded in paragraphs (a), (b), (c), and (d) of this section, nothing in this chapter shall prevent the registration of a mark used by the applicant which has become distinctive of the applicant's goods in commerce. The Commissioner may accept as prima facie evidence that the mark has become distinctive, as applied to the applicant's goods in commerce, proof of substantially exclusive and continuous use thereof as a mark by the applicant in commerce for the five years next preceding the date of the filing of the application for its registration. "
"Registration on the Principal Register should be attempted if it is at all possible. As a matter of strategy, an applicant should not in the application concede that the term falls within any of the statutory bars of § 2(e) which require proof of secondary meaning under § 2(f). The applicant should let the Trademark Examiner prove that the term falls within one of the categories of § 2(e). Since an ex parte application is like a contested proceeding between the applicant and the Federal Government, the applicant can merely await the Examiner's response and possible contention that the mark requires proof of secondary meaning. If the Examiner never makes this contention, or if the applicant convinces the Examiner or Trademark Board that the mark does not fall within § 2(e), then the whole problem of § 2(f) proof of secondary meaning is avoided. If the Examiner is adamant in his or her argument that the mark falls within a § 2(e) category, then the applicant has several choices: He may appeal the determination: he may agree to have the mark registered on the Supplemental Register; or he may submit proof under § 2(f) of secondary meaning. If the applicant qualifies for registration on the Supplemental Register, he may thereafter apply to register the mark on the Principal Register, and perhaps rely on the five-year presumption on secondary meaning. After the examiner's initial response that the mark is barred by a § 2(e) ground, as being not inherently distinctive, there is no doubt that applicant may respond in the alternative. That is, applicant may argue that (1) the mark is inherently distinctive ( e.g., is not 'merely descriptive') and/or (2) that even if barred by a § 2(e) ground as not inherently distinctive, the mark has become distinctive through the acquisition of secondary meaning. The point is that the applicant's attorney should not concede any more weakness in the mark than is absolutely necessary. The object is to get the mark on the Principal Register as soon as possible, one way or another. "
United States v. Erika, 456 U. S. 201 , 456 U. S. 208 (1982); Dunlop v. Bachowski, 421 U. S. 560 , 421 U. S. 567 (1975); Johnson v. Robison, 415 U. S. 361 , 451 U. S. 373 -374 (1974); Barlow v. Collins, 397 U. S. 159 , 397 U. S. 166 (1970); Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner, 387 U. S. 136 , 387 U. S. 140 -141 (1967).
Cf. Stafford v. Briggs, 444 U. S. 527 , 444 U. S. 536 (1980) (the Court should look to the statutory language, and the objects and policy of the law, so that the Court's construction of the statute will execute Congress' true intent).
See Otto Roth & Co. v. Universal Foods Corp., 640 F.2d 1317, 1320 (CCPA 1981)(recognizing the importance of the "free use of the language" in the trademark context); Bada Co. v. Montgomer Ward & Co., 426 F.2d 8, 11 (CA9) ("[O]ne competitor will not be permitted to impoverish the language of commerce by preventing his fellows from fairly describing their own goods"), cert. denied, 400 U.S. 916 (1970). Additionally, before the Lanham Act was enacted, this Court, in Canal Co. v. Clark, 13 Wall. 311, 80 U. S. 323 -324 (1872), wrote words that are still applicable today:
( Quoting Amoskeag Manufacturing Co. v. Spear, 2 Sand. 599, 606-607 (N.Y. Super. 1849).)
The Court emphasizes that it does not address whether traditional equitable defenses are available in an action to enforce an incontestable mark. Ante at 469 U. S. 203 , n. 7. Thus, the Court chooses not to rule on whether the language of § 33(b) can be ignored when a defense such as laches or estoppel is asserted. Several courts have indicated that such defenses are allowed. See, e.g., Prudential Ins. Co. v. Gibraltar Financial Corp. 694 F.2d 1150, 1153 (CA9 1982), cert. denied, 463 U.S. 1208 (1983), Cuban Cigar Brands N.V. v. Upmann International, Inc., 457 F . Supp. 1090, 1092, n. 5 (SDNY 1978), aff'd, without opinion, 607 F.2d 995 (CA2 1979); Carl Zeiss Stiftung v. V.E.B. Carl Zeiss, Jena, 298 F.Supp. 1309 (SDNY 1969), modified, 433 F.2d 686 (CA2 1970), cert. denied, 403 U.S. 905 (1971); Haviland & Co. v. Johann Haviland China Corp., 269 F.Supp. 928, 955 (SDNY 1967). Several commentators have also written on the subject. 2 J. McCarthy, Trademarks and Unfair Competition 761 (1984). One early article noted:
Weinberger v. Romero-Barcelo, 456 U. S. 305 , 456 U. S. 311 (1982).
Hecht Co. v. Bowles, 321 U. S. 321 , 321 U. S. 329 (1944).
Porter v. Warner Holding Co., 328 U. S. 395 , 328 U. S. 400 (1946); Morton Salt Co. v. G. S. Suppiger Co., 314 U. S. 488 , 314 U. S. 492 (1942) ("[C]ourts of equity may appropriately withhold their aid where the plaintiff is using the right asserted contrary to the public interest"); Virginian R. Co. v. Railway Employees, 300 U. S. 515 , 300 U. S. 552 (1937).
Griffin v. Oceanic Contractors, Inc., 458 U. S. 564 , 458 U. S. 571 (1982); see also Garcia v. United States, ante at 469 U. S. 80 (STEVENS, J., dissenting).
Fidelity Federal Savings & Loan Assn. v. De la Cuesta, 458 U. S. 141 , 458 U. S. 163 (1982) (all parts of a statute should be given effect if possible); American Textile Manufacturers Institute, Inc. v. Donovan, 452 U. S. 490 , 452 U. S. 513 (1981) (same); Reiter v. Sonotone Corp., 442 U. S. 330 , 442 U. S. 339 (1979) ("In construing a statute we are obliged to give effect, if possible, to every word that Congress used").
Moreover, even if the owner of a registered mark may not enjoin infringement, it is not true that the registration has become "meaningless." See ante, at 469 U. S. 196 . A registration may be used to prevent the importation of goods bearing infringing marks into this country. See 15 U.S.C. § 1124, 19 U.S.C. § 1526, and 19 U.S.C. § 1337(a). Additionally, registration in this country is a prerequisite to registration in some foreign countries. A. Seidel, What the General Practitioner Should Know About Trademarks and Copyrights 26 (4th ed.1979); E. Vandenburgh, Trademark La and Procedure 58 (2d ed.1968). Further, the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, in an opinion recognizing that Congress had expressed its desire that scandalous matter not be registered, wrote the following regarding the benefits of registration: