Opinion ID: 286502
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Claim under the Lanham Trade-Mark Act

Text: 15 The district court concluded that the proof showed that Dietene 'by its comparison sheet has substantially misrepresented its own product in interstate commerce to plaintiff's detriment' and thus violated section 43(a) of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. 1125(a). Although the court's underlying findings speak in general terms of misrepresentation by Dietene of its own product, the comparison sheet and the testimony do not support such findings. There is no evidence that the analysis made by Dr. Barker of Delmark Quick Egg Custard (Dietene's product) was false. The alleged falsity of the comparison sheet resides in the statements made about Bernard's custard mix. Even the statement that 'Delmark Quick Egg Custard is superior to Bernard Custard in all major respects,' must be read in context with various comparisons made between the two products as to flavor, texture, nutrition, and cost. These comparisons all deal with claimed deficiencies of the Bernard custard mix when compared to the defendant's product. They do not in any manner assert that Dietene's product has qualities that are found in Bernard's custard mix. Thus, despite the district court's findings to the contrary, the misrepresentations relate not to defendant's product but to that manufactured by the plaintiff. 16 Since a review of the record demonstrates that this case is concerned only with disparagement of the plaintiff's product, it does not come within the purview of the Lanham Act. False advertising or representations made by a defendant about a plaintiff's product are not covered by section 43(a). Holsten Import Corp. v. Rheingold Corp., 285 F.Supp. 607 (S.D.N.Y. 1968); Smith-Victor Corp. v. Sylvania Electric Products, Inc., 242 F.Supp. 302 (N.D.Ill.1965); Gold Seal Co. v. Weeks, 129 F.Supp. 928, 940 (D.D.C. 1955), aff'd per curiam, S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc. v. Gold Seal Company, 97 U.S.App.D.C. 282, 230 F.2d 832 (1956). We believe that a correct interpretation of the Lanham Act is contained in Samson Crane Co. v. Union National Sales, Inc., 87 F.Supp. 218 (D.Mass.1949), aff'd per curiam, 180 F.2d 896 (1st Cir. 1950). In that case the district court said: 17 It is true that the section speaks of 'any false description or representation' but this must first be interpreted in the light of the succeeding phrase which explains these words as including words or symbols tending falsely to describe or represent, not any fact, but the goods or services in connection with which the description or representation is used. The intent of Congress in passing the Act is set forth in the final paragraph of Section 1127. Only one phrase of that paragraph fails to use the word 'mark'. And that phrase ('to protect persons engaged in such commerce against unfair competition') must in such a context be construed to refer not to any competitive practice which in the broad meaning of the words might be called unfair, but to that 'unfair competition' which has been closely associated with the misuse of trade-marks, i.e., the passing off of one's own goods as those of a competitor. It is clear, both from this statement of the intent and from a reading of the Act as a whole, that the primary purpose of the Act was to eliminate deceitful practices in interstate commerce involving the misuse of trademarks, but along with this it sought to eliminate other forms of misrepresentations which are of the same general character even though they do not involve any use of what can technically be called a trade-mark. The language of Section 43(a) is broad enough to include practices of this latter class. But the section should be construed to include only such false descriptions or representations as are of substantially the same economic nature as those which involve infringement or other improper use of trademarks. It should not be interpreted so as to bring within its scope any kind of undesirable business practice which involves deception, when such practices are outside the field of the trade-mark laws, and especially when such undesirable practices are already the subject of other Congressional legislation, such as the Federal Trade Commission Act. 87 F.Supp. at 222. 18 Further support for the view that the Act does not embrace misrepresentations about a competitor's product but only false or deceitful representations which the manufacturer or merchant makes about his own goods or services is contained in L'Aiglon Apparel v. Lana Lobell, Inc., 214 F.2d 649 (3d Cir. 1954), and General Pool Corp. v. Hallmark Pool Corp., 259 F.Supp. 383 (N.D.Ill.1966). 19 For the foregoing reason, the district court erred in holding that Bernard established a cause of action under the Lanham Act. Additionally, it should be noted that there was no evidence that plaintiff lost any specific sales by reason of the publication and dissemination of the comparison sheet or that its loss of business was attributable to the defendant's conduct. 20