Court Opinion

ID: 9454057
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 18:34:19.249741+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:33:56.868802
License: Public Domain

WORLEY, Chief Judge
(dissenting).
I daresay that if this court had not had the benefit of the record, brief and argument no member would say that appellant’s mark remotely resembles an “S” in the usual sense. To me it is but an arbitrary symbol which has no sound, spelling or meaning. It is, as appellant states:
* * * a circular design having four outwardly extending points, spaced 90° apart at top, at the bottom, at the right and at the left. In the center of the circular device is a dot or disc. Above the central dot, in Appellant’s mark, there is a flattened arc extending upwardly to the right while below the dot or disc, at the center, and all inside of the circular device, there is another arc extending downwardly and to the left. Neither of the arcs is joined to the central dot or disc nor is either arc joined in any manner to the outer circular device.
I cannot believe that any of us, seeing the marks as actually used in the world of commerce, would be likely to assume the goods to which the marks are applied emanated from a common source. This member of the court was obliged to stare intently at appellant’s mark before discerning anything resembling the clearly defined “S” in the reference mark.
It must also be remembered that the instant goods, consisting of iron and steel products, are hardly in the class of “over the counter” items casually purchased by the average consumer. Granted that the channels of trade, as well as the purchasers, are the same, it would seem that those facts, as a practical matter, would not negate the care and discrimination the purchaser of such items would doubtless exercise if he were to purchase by brand name or symbol rather than price, specification, grade and other elements which are presumably the usual criteria in this field of commerce.
When the dissimilarities between the marks are considered along with the nature of the goods to which they are applied and especially the purchasers thereof, I see no likelihood of confusion. I would reverse.