Opinion ID: 482097
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Mi-Lor's appeal

Text: 8 A. Preliminary Injunction. Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a), creates a protected right in the trade dress or total image of a package, if that trade dress is nonfunctional and has acquired a secondary meaning in the marketplace by which it is identified with its producer or source. LeSportsac, Inc. v. K Mart Corp., 754 F.2d 71, 75 (2d Cir.1985). In issuing the April 12 preliminary injunction, the district court found that Oral-B's trade dress was nonfunctional, that its packaging had acquired secondary meaning and that Oral-B was threatened with irreparable injury. These findings are not contested on this appeal. 9 Indeed, as already indicated, entry of the April 12 injunction is not contested before us. That injunction prohibited Mi-Lor from using a toothbrush package confusingly similar [to] or colorably imitating Oral-B's packaging. Judge Sweet's modified injunction contained the same prohibition. Therefore, the technical issue in the district court was whether the redesigned Mi-Lor packaging before Judge Sweet at the contempt hearing was confusingly similar to, or colorably imitat[ed], Oral-B's. For convenience, we will refer to this issue as likelihood of confusion. On this crucial point, Judge Sweet said Mi-Lor's boxes could in my view lead to confusion on the part of the consumer. Since the sole significant evidence on likelihood of confusion before the district court was the actual toothbrush boxes, this court is in as good a position as the district court to determine whether they are confusingly similar. Perfect Fit Industries v. Acme Quilting Co., 618 F.2d 950, 954 n. 6 (2d Cir.1980). We agree with the district court. 10 The packages the district court enjoined at the contempt hearing have the following elements in common: they refer to Oral-B by name, they have a numbering system that gives the same impression as Oral-B's numbering system, they have a window revealing the head of the toothbrush similar to Oral-B's window and they have descriptive labeling on a white box similar to the descriptive labeling on Oral-B's white box. The combination of these factors justifies the district court's conclusion that the packages should be enjoined. 11 The view that Mi-Lor's packages are confusingly similar to Oral-B's is strongly supported by Mi-Lor's motive in designing the package. At the initial injunction hearing Judge Sweet remarked, in reference to the testimony of Mi-Lor's president, The question was put 'Why is it necessary for you to adopt these color combinations and the color location of the elements? [Answer:] To catch the eye of a potential Oral-B customer.' In so doing the [Mi-Lor] package, which is the subject of the litigation, was designed. In other words, the trade dress that sparked this litigation was calculated to evoke the image of Oral-B's product. There was no evidence that Mi-Lor's motive ever shifted from this original intent. Indeed, Mi-Lor's obvious desire to stay as close to the Oral-B packaging as it thought it could suggests the contrary. Evidence of conscious imitation is pertinent because the law presumes that an intended similarity is likely to cause confusion. Harlequin Enterprises Ltd. v. Gulf & Western Corp., 644 F.2d 946, 949 (2d Cir.1981) (citations omitted). 12 B. Contempt. In addition to its findings on likelihood of confusion, the district court deemed certain packages of Mi-Lor's in contempt of its preliminary injunction. A finding of contempt will be reversed only if the district court abused its discretion, Transgo, Inc. v. Ajac Transmission Parts Corp., 768 F.2d 1001, 1022 (9th Cir.1985), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 106 S.Ct. 802, 88 L.Ed.2d 778 (1986). We find no such abuse here. 13 By its April 12 injunction, the district court enjoined the sale of toothbrush boxes bearing the tradedress of Mi-Lor ... including the use of a blue oval design [and the] offering for sale or advertising [of] a toothbrush package confusingly similar [to] or colorably imitating the Oral-B toothbrush package tradedress. In its June 19 clarification of the preliminary injunction, when presented with a toothbrush package having a green oval, the court concluded: 14 Despite the change in color of the central oval, the overall design of the face of the proposed package remains confusingly similar to Oral-B's for several reasons: the oval enclosing the Mi-Lor label, the visual focal point of the package, is itself nearly identical to Oral-B's oval; the Mi-Lor oval is twice situated against a white background on the front of the package in a manner identical to that of Oral-B's packaging.... 15 .... 16 Because '[t]he test of consumer confusion is not whether the products can be differentiated when subjected to a side-by-side comparison, but rather whether they create the same general impression,' RJR Foods, Inc. v. White Rock Corp., 603 F.2d 1058, 1060 (2d Cir.1979) the subtle distinctions in packaging that Mi-Lor discusses in its papers do not overcome the similarities described above. 17 611 F.Supp. at 463. 18 In the face of these prohibitions, Mi-Lor marketed the K & B and Payless private label packages that occasioned the district court's contempt findings. The K & B package contained a colored oval with white writing inside, placed on a predominantly white box. The Payless package contained what looks like a blue oval, with white writing inside, that had the ends cut off. It too is placed on a predominantly white box. The effect of both packages is strikingly similar to that of Oral-B's trade dress. 19 Admittedly, the ovals on the K & B and Payless packages are neither precisely the same color nor exactly the same shape as Oral-B's oval. However, the district court's June 19 clarification of its injunction left no doubt that use of a colored oval as a visual focal point of the packages would be considered an infringement of Oral-B's trade dress. Furthermore, our review of the packages confirms to us that Mi-Lor ignored the district court's warning that subtle distinctions would not suffice if Mi-Lor's boxes created the same general impression as Oral-B's, 611 F.Supp. at 463. The court having found, at least as a preliminary matter, that Mi-Lor had infringed Oral-B's trade dress, it was Mi-Lor's duty to keep a safe distance from the line drawn by the district court's injunction. See, e.g., Independent Nail & Packing Co. v. Stronghold Screw Products, 215 F.2d 434, 436 (7th Cir.1954). In our view, Judge Sweet had adequate grounds for finding the evidence clear and convincing, Perfect Fit Industries v. Acme Quilting Co., 646 F.2d 800, 808 (2d Cir.1981), that the Payless and K & B packages not only came close to that line, but crossed it. 20 C. Modified Injunction. The district court's modified preliminary injunction forbids Mi-Lor from making any reference to Oral-B on its toothbrush boxes. Mi-Lor argues that this prohibition is overly broad; Oral-B contends that Mi-Lor's record as an infringer justifies it. We conclude that the modified preliminary injunction was within the district court's discretion. 21 In fashioning relief for trade dress infringement, the district court exercises broad powers as a court of equity.... It is well settled that the district court's equity jurisdiction empowers it 'to mould each decree to the necessities of the particular case.'  Perfect Fit Industries, 646 F.2d at 805-06 (citations omitted). Furthermore, a party who has once infringed a trademark may be required to suffer a position less advantageous than that of an innocent party. Conan Properties, Inc. v. Conans Pizza, Inc., 752 F.2d 145, 154 (5th Cir.1985); Independent Nail & Packing Co., 215 F.2d at 436. In this case, Judge Sweet had twice ordered Mi-Lor to eliminate the likelihood of confusion threatened by its toothbrush boxes. Each time, however, Mi-Lor created a new box that the court held was confusingly similar [to] or colorably imitat[ed] the Oral-B toothbrush package tradedress, in violation of the April 12 injunction. Faced with this circumstance, the district judge properly exercised his discretion to assure that future toothbrush boxes would not be confusingly similar to Oral-B's. Cf. S.E.C. v. Manor Nursing Centers, 458 F.2d 1082, 1100 (2d Cir.1972). 22 In affirming the prohibition of references to Oral-B on Mi-Lor's packaging, we are not unmindful of the decisions cited to us by Mi-Lor in support of comparative advertising. E.g., G.D. Searle & Co. v. Hudson Pharmaceutical Corp., 715 F.2d 837 (3d Cir.1983); Clorox Co. v. Stanson Detergents, Inc., No. 84 Civ. 1236 (S.D.N.Y. April 22, 1985). It is true that comparative advertising is in the public interest whether or not it is placed on a product's packaging, see Societe Comptoir de L'Industrie Cotonniere Etablissements Boussac v. Alexander's Dep't Stores, 299 F.2d 33 (2d Cir.1962). But the cases supporting comparative advertising, on which Mi-Lor relies, are distinguishable. In Clorox Co., the trade dress in question was already designed in a way that avoided a likelihood of confusion. In G.D. Searle, the district court had not considered the injunction on comparative advertising necessary for effective relief. 23 Mi-Lor argues that a ban on the mention of Oral-B's name on Mi-Lor toothbrush boxes creates a cordon sanitaire around Oral-B's trade dress, beyond the protection the Lanham Act was designed to provide. See Miss Universe, Inc. v. Patricelli, 408 F.2d 506, 510-11 (2d Cir.1969). Mi-Lor points out that a toothbrush package completely different from Oral-B's, using comparative advertising that left no doubt as to the product's sponsor, would not be likely to cause confusion. We agree. It is already late in the game, however, and Mi-Lor has yet to create such a box. If at some future time Mi-Lor creates a radically different trade dress, one that could not be confused with an Oral-B box, and places comparative advertising on that box, Mi-Lor could then request Judge Sweet to modify the injunction to allow the new box. See Clorox Co., supra. Given the history and current posture of this case, however, we decline to disturb the modified preliminary injunction.