Miss Universe, Inc. v. Flesher, CV 77-1276-AAH.

• Citation: 433 F. Supp. 271
• Decision Date: 20 June 1977
• Docket Number: No. CV 77-1276-AAH.,CV 77-1276-AAH.
• Court: United States District Courts. 9th Circuit. United States District Courts. 9th Circuit. Central District of California
• Parties: MISS UNIVERSE, INC., a California Corporation, Plaintiff, v. William FLESHER, Fran Flesher, Mel Lynn, and Treehouse Fun Ranch, Inc., a California Corporation, Defendants.

433 F. Supp. 271

MISS UNIVERSE, INC., a California Corporation, Plaintiff, v. William FLESHER, Fran Flesher, Mel Lynn, and Treehouse Fun Ranch, Inc., a California Corporation, Defendants.

No. CV 77-1276-AAH.

United States District Court, C. D. California.

June 20, 1977.

Robert E. Hinerfeld and Wallace L. Rosvall, Murphy, Thornton, Hinerfeld & Cahill, Los Angeles, Cal., for plaintiff.

James W. Geriak and Thomas D. Kiley, Lyon & Lyon, Los Angeles, Cal., for defendants William Flesher, Fran Flesher, Melvin Lynn (sued herein as "Mel Lynn"), and Treehouse Fun Ranch, Inc., a California corporation.

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW RE PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION

HAUK, District Judge.

This Court having considered the extensive declarations, affidavits, and memoranda of law filed by the parties, having considered the oral arguments of counsel, and being fully satisfied in the premises, now makes its Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, pursuant to Rule 52, F.R.Civ.P., and Local Rule 7, as follows:

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Plaintiff is a California corporation, with its principal place of business in the City of New York, State of New York. Defendants William and Fran Flesher are husband and wife, officers of defendant Treehouse Fun Ranch, Inc., a California corporation hereinafter sometimes "Treehouse", and the responsible managing agents of Treehouse in charge of Treehouse's beauty pageants, variously known as MISS NUDE U.S.A. Beauty Pageant, MS. NUDE U.S.A. Beauty Pageant, and MISS NUDE INTERNATIONAL Beauty Pageant. Defendant Lynn is the director of defendant Treehouse's 1977 beauty pageants promoted under the names MISS NUDE U.S.A., MS. NUDE U.S.A., and MISS NUDE INTERNATIONAL. All of the defendants reside and do business within the Central District of California.

2. Continuously since 1952, plaintiff has promoted an annual beauty pageant under the service mark MISS U.S.A. Beauty Pageant, from which the winner, known as MISS U.S.A. and MISS UNITED STATES, can enter another beauty pageant produced by plaintiff, known as the MISS UNIVERSE Beauty Pageant. The contestants in the MISS U.S.A. Beauty Pageant are drawn from each of the 50 States and the District of Columbia, with a representative unmarried female contestant coming from each jurisdiction to each annual MISS U.S.A. Beauty Pageant.

3. Plaintiff's MISS U.S.A. Beauty Pageant has been broadcast on the CBS Television Network annually since 1965, sponsored by Procter & Gamble Company. In the Spring of 1976, the pageant was seen by an estimated viewing audience exceeding 60,000,000 people. The annual MISS UNIVERSE Beauty Pageant, in which MISS U.S.A. participates as a contestant, involves female contestants representing many nations. The international pageant is televised annually by Atlantic and Pacific satellite to an estimated viewing audience of 500,000,000 people in more than 40 countries. The total annual sponsor cost of the MISS U.S.A. and the MISS UNIVERSE Beauty Pageants exceeds $2,000,000.

4. The beauty queens selected in plaintiff's annual pageants are judged upon qualities such as congeniality, beauty, intelligence, and background.

5. It is the policy and practice of plaintiff to conduct its MISS U.S.A. and MISS UNIVERSE Beauty Pageants in good taste and in a clean and wholesome manner. These pageants are dependent upon the goodwill of the contestants and their parents, many of whom would be likely to object if their daughters entered a MISS U.S.A. Beauty Pageant which they thought to have any relation to a MISS NUDE U.S.A. Beauty Pageant. In addition, the standards of the television broadcasting industry and of plaintiff's telecast sponsors oblige plaintiff to maintain a high moral tone to its beauty pageants and all associations therewith in the public mind.

6. Plaintiff is the owner of the following trademarks, registered in the years indicated:

6.1. MISS UNIVERSE (# 620,557) 1956

6.2. MISS U.S.A. (# 810,421) 1966

6.3. MISS U.S.A. BEAUTY PAGEANT (# 847,877) 1968

7. Plaintiff is the owner of the following servicemarks, registered in the years indicated:

7.1. MISS U.S.A. (# 808,974) 1966

7.2. MISS UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (# 808,975) 1966

8. Plaintiff derives considerable income from its pageant and telecast sponsors and from fees derived from endorsements of products and personal appearances by its MISS U.S.A. title-holders.

9. Defendants Flesher and Treehouse have promoted a beauty pageant in the County of San Bernardino in June of 1973, 1974, 1975, and 1976 under the name MISS NUDE U.S.A. Beauty Pageant. A majority of the contestants in those pageants were, at the time of competing, residents of the State of California. In none of the contests was there more than 27 contestants. Most of the States have not been represented by a contestant in any MISS NUDE U.S.A. Beauty Pageant. The entry rules for that contest have never required contestants to reside in, or be nationals, of, the United States of America. Until restrained by this Court's order, dated 7 April 1977, those defendants and defendant Lynn were publicizing promotion of a contest under the name MS. NUDE U.S.A. Since 17 April 1977, defendants have begun to promote a beauty pageant for the same time and place formerly assigned by them to the MS. NUDE U.S.A. Beauty Pageant. The new pageant uses a name formerly used by defendants Treehouse and Flesher for a beauty pageant promoted by them prior to 1976, viz. MISS NUDE INTERNATIONAL Beauty Pageant.

10. On or about 13 July 1976, plaintiff's counsel having learned of defendants' MISS NUDE U.S.A. Beauty Pageant from local radio publicity in Los Angeles on 28 June 1976, plaintiff gave written notice to defendants Treehouse and Flesher to desist from using the name MISS NUDE U.S.A. because of infringement upon the registered marks of plaintiff. Having received no response from defendants, on 13 September 1976, plaintiff's counsel contacted defendant William Flesher by telephone, and confirmed that conversation by letter of even date. Still receiving no response from defendants or their counsel, on 9 February 1977, plaintiff's counsel again wrote defendants Treehouse and Flesher demanding a reply re defendants' intentions with respect to the continued infringement of plaintiff's registered marks. Further attempts at telephonic contact with defendant William Flesher proved fruitless. This action and the temporary restraining order of 7 May 1977 followed as a result of defendants' refusal to (i) accede to plaintiff's demand to abandon the infringing mark and (ii) respond to plaintiff's written and telephonic inquiries on defendants' intentions.

11. In view of the prolonged and intensive national and international publicity given to plaintiff's marks — MISS U.S.A. Beauty Pageant, MISS U.S.A., and MISS UNITED STATES — there is a likelihood of confusion...