Case Name: Cummins Engine Company, Inc. v. Continental Motors Corporation
Court: United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1966-05-12
Citations: 53 C.C.P.A. 1167
Docket Number: No. 6961
Parties: Cummins Engine Company, Inc. v. Continental Motors Corporation
Judges: Before Rich, Acting Chief Judge, and Martin, Smith, and Almond, Jr., Associate Judges, and Judge William H; Kirkpatrick.
Reporter: Court of Customs and Patent Appeals Reports
Volume: 53
Pages: 1167–1172

Head Matter:
359 F. 2d 892; 149 USPQ 559
Cummins Engine Company, Inc. v. Continental Motors Corporation
(No. 6961)
United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals,
May 12, 1966
George N. Hibben, Francis D. Thomas, Jr., for appellant.
Nims, Holliday, Whitman, Howes & Oollison (Walter J. Holliday, William H. Buchanan, Robert 0. Hauhe, of counsel) for appellee.
[Oral argument January 3, 1966, by Mr. Thomas, Jr., and Mr. Halliday]
Before Rich, Acting Chief Judge, and Martin, Smith, and Almond, Jr., Associate Judges, and Judge William H; Kirkpatrick.
United States Senior District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, designated to participate in place of Chief Judge Worley, pursuant to provisions of Section 294(d), Title 28, United, States Code.

Opinion:
MaRtin, Judge,
delivered the opinion of the court:
This is an appeal from decisions of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board granting a petition to cancel Beg. No. 629,304 for "TURBODIESEL," issued June 19, 1956 on the Supplemental Register for internal combustion engines and parts thereof. Cummins Engine Co. (Cummins) owns the mark.
The parties are competitors in the manufacture and sale of internal combustion engines of the compression ignition type, namely, diesel engines, and particularly diesel engines having an exhaust driven turbine supercharger. Continental petitioned for cancellation of Cummins' registration on the grounds, inter alia, that the word "turbodiesel," composed from individually generic words "turbine" (in its combining form "turbo") and "diesel," is "incapable of properly denoting origin of manufacture, and is therefore without trademark significance." Continental (petitioner-appellee) also alleges that "turbodiesel" has been used as "generically descriptive" of such type of engines prior to December 20, 1954, the date of first use alleged by respondent-appellant Cummins in the trademark registration.
While the main issue here is whether "turbodiesel" is incapable of distinguishing appellant's goods and thereby barred from registration under section 23 of the 1964 Lanham Trademark Act, 15 USC 1091, we are presented with a preliminary issue of which of appellee's 351 documentary exhibits properly can be considered by us in resolution of the main issue.
Appellant Cummins' initial application of February IT, 1955, sought registration on the Principal Register. Registration was refused by the examiner on the ground that the mark was merely descriptive. Following final refusal and just prior to expiration of the time in which to appeal, appellant sought to amend the application to convert to registration on the Supplemental Register, pursuant to then Rule 13.5. The paper seeking to amend, signed only by the attorney, was filed December 22, 1955, but being apparently delayed within the Patent Office, was given a date of May 17, 1956. A conversion amendment signed by applicant (appellant) was also sub mitted on January 5,1956. The prosecution proceeded in due course with issuance of the registration followed by the cancellation proceeding and a board decision (fully reported at 132 USPQ 557), that was timely appealed to this court. The board, upon consideration of evidence up to May 17, 1956, held, inter alia, that "as the common descriptive name for a particular kind or class of engines, 'TURBODIESEL' falls within the category of words, symbols and devices which are not subject to exclusive appropriation as trademarks" and it, therefore, granted the petition for the cancellation.
Subsequently there was much prosecution history concerning which conversion date appellant is to be accorded. Appellant has dropped all attempts to be accorded the date of February 17, 1955, to which it would have been entitled had the original application conformed to then Rule 13.5 as sufficient for registration on the register to which converted. The argument is over whether the December 22, 1955 or January 5, 1956 date is the conversion date, and consequently 'whether we are to consider an additional two exhibits having dates falling between December 22 and January 5. Appellant urges December 22,1955 as the proper date, stating:
Despite a ruling to the contrary by the Gommissioner of Patents (Supp. Tr. 25), Appellant believes that the effective filing date of its registration should be December 22, 1955, which would remove these two exhibits [advertisements by Waukesha Motor Go. employing the term "TURBODIESEL"] from consideration under Section 24 of the Trademark Act of 1946 [15 USO 1092],
We find it unnecessary to decide that issue since we assume ar-guendo the correct date to be December 22, 1955, yet find in the remaining 32 prior exhibits in the record abundant evidence indicating the mark in issue is incapable of distinguishing appellant's goods, pursuant to section 24.
We rely primarily upon the 1935 Funk & Wagnalls New Standard Dictionary definitions of "turbine," its combining form "turbo," and of "diesel," and a March 1953 "Flight" magazine article, all of which are reproduced in the board's decision as reported, 132 USPQ at 557. In our view, the definitions alone indicate that "turbodiesel" is a word which by its nature will convey a specific and correct meaning which is such that it cannot become a trademark as a result even of origination and first use. See Scholler Bros. v. Hans G. Bick, Inc., 110 USPQ 431 (Com'r Pats. 1956). The term "turbo-diesel," as we see it, is a natural composite form for a class of en-. gines into which appellant's engines fall. We recognize that the engines to which the term has been applied by appellant are, not turbine plus diesels, but diesel engines having exhaust driven twrbine superchargers. However, it is not required that the name precisely describe and define the goods in order to be incapable of registration under section 23. We think "turbodiesel," to be naturally and adequately nominative of engines having exhaust driven turbine superchargers.
In March 1953, the "Flight" magazine referred specifically to the names "turbo-C.I." and "turbo-diesel" and raised the question as to which name would be applied to a "Nomad compounded engine," as follows:
No class name has yet been given to the Nomad compounded engine — in time such names as turbo-C.I. (which is used in our leading article) or turbo-diesel, may find approval.
The Nomad engine pictured and discussed in "Flight" magazine is a diesel engine with a gas turbine. Its performance is compared with a turbojet, a turboprop and a piston engine, and comparative statistics are given. We view that use of the term "turbodiesel" as exemplary of the view we have expressed above, that such term would be recognized as a natural composite term for designating such engines.
We consider the following cases, among others, to support our view herein: In re Bailey Meter Co., 26 CCPA 1136, 102 F.2d 843, 41 USPQ 275; Ex parte Bailey Meter Co., 93 USPQ 179 (Com'r Pats. 1952) ; Ex parte Bailey Meter Co., 93 USPQ 385 (Com'r Pats. 1952); Bailey Meter Co. v. Watson, 122 F. Supp. 627, 101 USPQ 278 (D.C. D.C. 1954); Ex parte Le Blond, 98 USPQ 416 (Com'r Pats. 1953); Ex parte The Texas Co., 12 USPQ 58 (Com'r Pats. 1932), and Scholler Bros., supra. We do not find the term here to be such a deviation from a natural usage or an unusual unitary combination as to permit registration, in contrast to the terms in In re Ada Milling Co., 40 CCPA 1076, 205 F.2d 315, 98 USPQ 267, and Alumatone Corp. v. Vita-Var Corp., 183 F.2d 612, 86 USPQ 359.
Appellant also questions the right of appellee to petition for cancellation of this mark because appellee was not using the term as a trademark nor did it contemplate doing so, and alleging that under these circumstances appellee had not been damaged. We think the statute provides appellee's standing in this cancellation proceeding. Section 24 states, in pertinent part:
Sec. 24 (15 U.S.C. 1092). Supplemental register — Marks not published tor opposition — Cancelation
Whenever any person believes that he is or will be damaged by the registration of a mark on this register he may at any time, upon payment of the prescribed fee and the filing of a verified petition stating the ground therefor, apply to the Commissioner to cancel such registration. If it is found after a hearing before the Board that the registrant was not entitled to register the mart at the time of his application for registration thereof, or that the mart is not used by the registrant or has been abandoned, the registration shall be canceled by the Commissioner.
Appellee as a competitor of appellant clearly has reason to believe it will be damaged to the extent required by statute-
Appellant also complains that it has made extensive use of this term, has spent large sums of money in promoting its goods and that it uses this term in connection with its promotion and advertising. Appellant further states it estimates that it has spent approximately $400,000 in promoting "TTIRBODIESEL" engines in trade advertising. With reference to this matter, we agree with the board wherein it stated, 132 USPQ at 560:
And while respondent has made extensive use of this term and has expended a large sum in promoting its goods in connection with which this term has been used, the Court in Weiss Noodle Company v. Golden Cracknel and Specialty Company [48 CCPA 1004, 290 F. 2d 845, 129 USPQ 411]; when presented with a similar argument, aptly stated "While it is always distressing to contemplate a situation in which money has been invested in a promotion in the mistaken belief that trademark rights of value are being created, merchants act at their peril in attempting, by advertising, to convert common descriptive names, which belong to the public, to their own exclusive use".
For the above reasons we affirm the decisions of the board.
132 USPQ 557 (TT&AB 1962), on reconsideration 144 USPQ 775 (TT&AB 1964).
Cancellation Proceedings No. 7,118.
This includes a second board decision, 144 USPQ 776, that, pursuant to a decision, and reconsideration, of the Commissioner on remand from this court, came to the same result as that in 132 USPQ 557 as based on evidence available up to January 5, 1956.