Charles S. Merton & Co. v. Percy Merton, Inc.
| Decision Date | 30 October 1928 |
| Docket Number | No. 59—201.,59—201. |
| Citation | 143 A. 515 |
| Parties | CHARLES S. MERTON & CO. v. PERCY MERTON, Inc. |
| Court | New Jersey Court of Chancery |
Action by Charles S. Merton & Company against Percy Merton, Incorporated, for an injunction. Preliminary injunction made permanent.
Stanton T. Lawrence, of Rutherford, for complainant.
Mackay & Mackay, of Hackensack, and Weinberger & Weinberger, of Passaic, for defendant.
LEWIS, Vice Chancellor. In 1901 Charles S. Merton established a hat and cap business, and at that time adopted the word "Merton" as a trade-name. In 1905 the business was incorporated under the name of Charles S. Merton & Co., and that corporation is the present complainant in this suit The trade-name of "Merton" has been featured in the business from the beginning down to the present time. In the quarter of a century or more that has intervened, the business has grown from a basis of about $6,000 for the first year, to approximately $400,000 per year at this time; and complainant now has a corps of salesmen covering all parts of the country. During all this period Charles S. Merton, the founder of the business, has been the guiding spirit, and has directed and controlled its affairs. In 1910 complainant and its successors were granted a trade-mark for hats and caps by the United States authorities, in which the original featuring of the name "Merton" was carried out, and is the paramount factor. In 1916 complainant incorporated in the state of New Jersey and acquired the business, good will, trade-marks, and assets of its predecessor (incorporated in 1905), which was a corporation of the state of New York. It has since conducted its business as a corporation of this state, and asserts that it has built up a high and enviable reputation among the merchants and purchasing public, so that the name "Merton," as used in connection with hats and caps, has come to be understood by the public as signifying the goods of the complainant. Several witnesses, who are nationally prominent in the hat and cap trade, also testified that complainant is widely known as a manufacturer of cloth headwear of the highest standard of quality. Complainant contends, therefore, that the name "Merton" has acquired a fixed and widespread secondary meaning in relation to hats and caps, in the same manner as the names "Knox," "Dunlap," and "Stetson."
In 1907 Percy Merton, a younger brother of Charles S. Merton, was given employment in the business as an office boy, and later advanced to a position of salesman. A...
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