Court Opinion

ID: 9445185
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 21:22:04.023481+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:30:09.465169
License: Public Domain

*672COLE, Judge
(dissenting).
While I am in agreement with the majority’s statements of the involved legal principles, I do not believe that those principles have been correctly applied to the facts of this case.
The majority states that it has come to the conclusion that the marks are not confusingly similar “especially” because the prefix “ortho” is “somewhat descriptive” of the merchandise, and therefore should not be considered the dominant portion of the marks. Even admitting the somewhat improbable assumption that the purchasing public has a sufficient knowledge of Greek roots to interpret “ortho” as indicating that the mattress in question is “straight,” “regular,” or “correct,” the majority has still faced only half the problem. If the prefix “ortho” is “somewhat descriptive” of mattresses, the suffix “flex” is abundantly descriptive of mattresses, and there is even less reason to consider it the dominant portion of the mark. The same is true with respect to the suffix “tonic.” If it would give the purchaser any impression other than mere assonance with appellee’s name “Restonic,” it seems to me that it should be considered at least as descriptive as “ortho.” Depending on the pronunciation, it would seem to indicate the rejuvenating or “tonic” qualities of the mattress, or (with a long vowel sound) that the mattress had or gave “tone.” .
Trademarks exist in a practical world, not in a world of lexicographers. If we direct our attention away from the dictionaries and consider the facts of commercial affairs, I think the conclusion is inescapable that “ortho” is the dominant portion of the marks involved herein. Although many words in the dictionaries may begin with the prefix “ortho” it is not too frequently used in ordinary speech. One of the more common words in which it is used is “orthodox.” However, the prefix is widely recognized for its use in referring to branches of the medical arts, e. g., orthopedies, orthodontia. There is testimony in this case that in the 1940’s there was considerable use by mattress manufacturers of the word “orthopedic” to describe their products, until, at the instigation of the Federal Trade Commission, the industry adopted trade practice rules prohibiting the indiscriminate use of the word. “Ortho,” as a prefix to a trademark for mattresses, would be more likely, in my opinion, to suggest a medical connotation, than to describe the mattress as “straight,” “regular,” or “correct.” I think that “ortho” because of its rather infrequent use in common speech, and its medical connotation when so used, would be likely to strike a purchaser more forcibly than either suffix, and would stick longer in his mind.
In this connection, it is interesting to note how applicant came to adopt its mark. When the trade practice rules for the bedding, manufacturing, and wholesale distributing industry, promulgated in 1950, prohibited the use of “orthopedic” on bedding products, applicant (who had been using “orthopedic” on its mattresses) was obliged to discontinue the use of the word. Thereupon applicant sought registration for the mark involved here. The fact that the prefix “ortho” was carried whole into the mark sought to be registered seems to indicate that considerable weight was given it by the applicant. I think the average purchaser would give it the same weight.
In my opinion, the prefix “ortho” is the dominant portion of the two marks, and considered as a whole the marks are likely to cause confusion, mistake, or deception of purchasers. The decision of the Commissioner should be reversed.