Gaines & Co. v. Sroufe

• Decision Date: 23 December 1901
• Docket Number: 12,960.
• Parties: GAINES & CO. v. SROUFE et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of California

117 F. 965

GAINES & CO. v. SROUFE et al.

No. 12,960.

United States Circuit Court, N.D. California.

December 23, 1901

Scrivner & Hopkins, for complainant.

J. M Whitworth and Charles A. Shurtleff, for respondents.

MORROW Circuit Judge.

This is a suit in equity brought by the complainant, a Kentucky corporation, against the respondents, citizens of the state of California, for the alleged infringement of a trade-mark. The bill alleges, upon information and belief, that the business of distilling and selling whisky now operated by the complainant corporation was conducted in the year 1867 and thereafter by the firm or partnership of W. A. Gaines & Co. who acquired the business, property, trade-marks, good will and distillery of the preceding firm of Gaines, Berry & Co.; that among the trade-marks originated and devised by the said firm of W. A. Gaines &amp Co., and used by them, was the certain trade-mark for whisky, known as and consisting of the arbitrary word 'Hermitage,' which was attached to the packages, barrels, and bottles containing the genuine Hermitage whisky distilled by the said firm of W. A. Gaines & Co., which said brand of whisky commanded and still commands a large and ready sale on the market in the United States and elsewhere; that in the year 1887 the complainant corporation was formed, and succeeded to and acquired the business of the aforesaid firm of W. A. Gaines & Co., and all its property, including the Hermitage trade-mark; that complainant has continued to manufacture the said Hermitage whisky at its distillery in the state of Kentucky, pursuing the same methods and exercising the same care as had theretofore been given to it by the predecessors of complainant, and has expended large sums of money in advertising said trade-mark, and the goods to which it is applied, throughout the world. It is further alleged, upon information and belief, that the said Hermitage trade-mark has been duly registered by the said firm of W. A. Gaines & Co. in the office of the United States commissioner of patents at Washington, and that said trade-mark is now of the value of $500,000 and upwards. The bill charges, also, upon information and belief, that the respondents, with the wicked and fraudulent intent of deceiving and misleading the purchasing public and consumers of whisky in the United States, and with the wrongful and inequitable intent of enjoying the benefits of the great reputation of...