Crane Co. v. Crane Heating & Air Conditioning Co.
| Decision Date | 23 February 1962 |
| Docket Number | No. 14639.,14639. |
| Citation | 299 F.2d 577 |
| Parties | CRANE CO., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CRANE HEATING & AIR CONDITIONING CO., a corporation, Frank J. Crane, Jr., Thomas Crane, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Gerrit P. Groen, Chicago, Ill. (Dean A. Olds, Byron, Hume, Groen & Clement, Chicago, Ill., on the brief), Truman A. Herron, Wood, Herron & Evans, Cincinnati, Ohio, of counsel, for plaintiff-appellant.
William J. Rielly, Cincinnati, Ohio (Lloyd, Ferguson & Rielly, Cincinnati, Ohio, on the brief), Walter S. Murray, Cincinnati, Ohio, of counsel, for defendants-appellees.
Before WEICK, Circuit Judge, and BOYD and THORNTON, District Judges.
In the present case, Crane Co. sought to enjoin the defendants from using the name Crane in the conduct of their business claiming infringement of its trademark and unfair competition. The District Judge adopted findings of fact and conclusions of law. He denied the injunction and dismissed the complaint.
Crane Co.'s name was derived from R. J. Crane who established the business in 1855. Crane Co. was incorporated under the laws of Illinois with its principal office in Chicago. It has a large business and is engaged in the sale of a variety of products throughout the United States and in some foreign countries. These products include bathroom fixtures, plumbing, heating, air conditioning and related equipment and valves and fittings. It maintains a Cincinnati sales office. Prior to 1955 it did not concentrate on the sale of heating equipment in Cincinnati. Crane Co. manufactures about 50% of its products and has others manufacture for it the remaining 50%. It makes no sales at the retail level and distributes its products through jobbers and retailers. It does not service any of its products except when a complaint made by a purchaser of one of its products is not properly handled by the retailer who sold it.
Crane Co. established the right to use the name "Crane" as a trademark or trade-name on its products. It asserts that its name is "renowned."
Defendants are a small outfit engaged in the installation and repair of heating and air conditioning equipment in homes and buildings in the Cincinnati area Frank J. Crane, Jr. and Thomas Crane are brothers. They formed a partnership in 1953 under the name and style of Crane Heating & Air Conditioning Co. and the following year organized a corporation under the laws of Ohio using the same name. The corporation took over the partnership business. The brothers are President and Vice President respectively of the corporation. They do not manufacture any equipment or market any product bearing their names. They instal in a home or building whatever brand of equipment may be selected by a contractor or customer which included American Standard, Janitrol, Carrier and General Electric. All of the products handled by them bore the trademark or trade-name of the manufacturer.
About 95½% of their business consisted of installations of heating and air conditioning units in new homes on orders of contractors who specified the equipment, 1% in replacement of units in old homes and 3½% in servicing or repairing of equipment.
The District Court found that the Crane brothers were using their own surname in good faith; that they had not held themselves out to the public as being associated or connected with Crane Co. or attempted to palm off the equipment handled by them as being the products of that company; that all of the products handled by them were marked with the names of the manufacturers thereof.
There was no evidence of any damage to Crane Co. resulting from the use by Crane brothers of their own surname in their corporate set up.
There was evidence that another concern named M. H. Crane Company was engaged in the heating business in Cincinnati. This company had no connection with defendants. There was no proof that Crane Co. ever undertook to stop M. H. Crane Co. from using the name Crane although defendants offered to show that M. H. Crane Co. had been in business here since...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Haviland & Co. v. Johann Haviland China Corporation
...(1914); Howe Scale Co. v. Wyckoff, Seamans, & Benedict, 198 U.S. 118, 25 S.Ct. 609, 49 L.Ed. 972 (1905); Crane Co. v. Crane Heating & Air Conditioning Co., 299 F. 2d 577 (6th Cir. 1962); Horlick's Malted Milk Corp. v. Horlick, 143 F.2d 32 (7th Cir. 1944); John T. Lloyd Laboratories, Inc. v.......
-
Friend v. HA Friend and Company
...an individual's business use of his own name when no attempt to confuse the public has been made. Crane Co. v. Crane Heating & Air Conditioning Co., 299 F.2d 577, 578 (6th Cir. 1962); Haviland & Co. v. Johann Haviland China Corp., 269 F.Supp. 928, 955 (S.D.N.Y. 1967). Here, however, we are ......
-
Continente v. Continente
...Co. v. Schenley Distillers, Inc., D.C., 189 F.Supp. 821, aff'd 6 Cir., 297 F.2d 935.) As the court in Crane Co. v. Crane Heating & Air Conditioning Co. et al., 6 Cir., 299 F.2d 577 observed, "* * * the Crane brothers had the right to use their surname Crane in their business so long as they......
-
Stouffer Corp. v. Winegardner & Hammons, Inc.
...a secondary meaning in this area. Anheuser Busch v. Bavarian Brewing Co., 264 F.2d 88 (6th Cir. 1959); Crane Co. v. Crane Heating and Air Conditioning Co., 299 F.2d 577 (6th Cir. 1962); beef & brew, inc. v. Beef & Brew, Inc., 389 F.Supp. 179 (D.C.Or.1974). Bad faith not being present, Stouf......