In re WA Sheaffer Pen Co.

• Citation: 158 F.2d 390
• Decision Date: 09 December 1946
• Docket Number: Patent Appeal No. 5211.
• Parties: In re W. A. SHEAFFER PEN CO.
• Court: United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals

158 F.2d 390 (1946)

In re W. A. SHEAFFER PEN CO.

Patent Appeal No. 5211.

Court of Customs and Patent Appeals.

December 9, 1946.

Thorley von Holst, of Chicago, Ill. (M. Hudson Rathburn, of Chicago, Ill., and Edwin R. Hutchinson, of Washington, D. C., of counsel), for appellant.

W. W. Cochran, of Washington, D. C. (Pasquale J. Federico, of Washington, D. C., of counsel), for Commissioner of Patents.

Before GARRETT, Presiding Judge, and BLAND, HATFIELD, JACKSON, and O'CONNELL, Associate Judges.

O'CONNELL, Associate Judge.

This is an appeal from the decision of the Commissioner of Patents refusing to register appellant's mark "Fineline," 65 USPQ 171, as applied to mechanical pencils, parts thereof, and leads therefor. The ground of refusal was that the mark is descriptive of the character or quality of the goods with which it is used and its registration prohibited under Section 5(b) of the Trade-Mark Act of February 20, 1905, 15 U.S.C. § 85(b).

In its application appellant alleged that it had continuously used and applied its trade-mark to the goods since August 19, 1938.

The Examiner of Trade-Marks took the position, which was upheld by the Commissioner of Patents, "that the mark is descriptive of the goods, because it conveys the information that applicant's pencils will produce a fine written line."

The commissioner properly held that "it is now well settled that a mark is descriptive within the meaning of the Act if it describes the intended purpose, function, or use, of the goods to which it is applied."

Citing Sierra Chemical v. Berettini et al., 7 Cir., 33 F.2d 397, appellant directs attention in its brief to the fact that the involved mark is not of that class of trademarks known as arbitrary and fanciful, and citing O'Rourke v. Central City Soap Co., C.C.Mich., 26 F. 576, 578, directs attention, in italics, to the principle of law upon which it relies herein — "* * * There is, however, a class of words which, though not descriptive of the article, are suggestive of some supposed advantage to be derived from using it, or some effect produced by its use. These have been ordinarily, though not always, upheld as valid trademarks. * * *."

The sole question to be determined therefore is whether "Fineline" is descriptive of the character or quality of the goods; or whether as urged by appellant the mark "at most is suggestive of a possible result which may or may not be achieved in the use of a mechanical pencil."

Appellant argues that its mechanical pencil, or the lead used therein, does not necessarily make a fine line, that "Fineline" denotes an attribute which becomes apparent only when the article is used; and that a description of the goods does not by any stretch of the imagination include a line, fine or otherwise.

Appellant argues further in its brief that — * * * Appellant's pencils and leads may or may not make a line that could be described as "fine," depending on the manner in which the pencil is manipulated, the texture and hardness of the lead employed, and the standards of comparison used. To some users of appellant's pencils a thick heavy line might be described as a "good" or "fine" line.

It is true that appellant's mark does not describe a mechanical...