Southeastern Brewing Co. v. Blackwell

• Decision Date: 03 December 1935
• Docket Number: No. 3917.,3917.
• Citation: 80 F.2d 607
• Parties: SOUTHEASTERN BREWING CO. v. BLACKWELL, Secretary of State of South Carolina, et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

80 F.2d 607 (1935)

SOUTHEASTERN BREWING CO. v. BLACKWELL, Secretary of State of South Carolina, et al.^*

No. 3917.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

December 3, 1935.

John A. Sibley and Pope F. Brock, both of Atlanta, Ga. (Spalding, MacDougald, Sibley & Brock, of Atlanta, Ga., and Herbert & Dial, R. Beverley Herbert, and George L. Dial, Jr., all of Columbia, S. C., on the brief), for appellant.

Paul B. Eaton, of Charlotte, N. C., and E. M. Land, of Statesville, N. C. (Land & Sowers, of Statesville, N. C., Benet, Shand & McGowan and William Shand, all of Columbia, S. C., and Neil S. Sowers, of Statesville, N. C., on the brief), for appellees.

Before PARKER, NORTHCOTT, and SOPER, Circuit Judges.

NORTHCOTT, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from a decree entered in the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of South Carolina, in a suit in equity in which the appellant, herein referred to as the plaintiff, sought to enjoin the appellee, Old South Brewing Company, from using the name "Old South" in its brewery business and the appellee Blackwell, as secretary of state for South Carolina, from recording the legend "Old South Brew" as the property of the Old South Brewing Company.

After the taking of evidence and a hearing before the court below, the judge made a full and detailed finding of facts and stated his conclusions of law. A decree was entered dismissing the plaintiff's bill, holding the Old South Brewing Company to be the exclusive owner of the trade-mark "Old South Brew," and permanently enjoining the plaintiff from using the trade-mark "Old South Brew" in the states of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

The facts as found by the judge below show that in the summer of the year 1933, Ralph Long and J. G. Isenhour, engaged in distributing several brands of beer in North Carolina, and in August, 1933, conceived the idea of erecting a brewery in North Carolina, and brought together a group of men whom they interested in the project. On September 1, 1933, they selected the name Old South Brewing Company, Inc., for the corporation to be organized, and adopted the name "Old South Brew" as a trade-mark for the product they proposed to manufacture. Until the brewery could be erected, Long and Isenhour arranged with the Eastern Beverage Corporation of Hammonton, N. J., to manufacture a beer for their account under the name of "Old South Brew," to be shipped to points in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The shipment of this beer to customers of Long and Isenhour was begun in September, 1933, and various shipments were made to distributors selected by Long and Isenhour. This beer was sent out by the distributors to the retailers in the surrounding territory. These retailers were told that this same beer would eventually be made at the Statesville, N. C., plant of the Old South Brewing Company. These shipments by the Eastern Beverage Corporation continued until May 1, 1934, and no shipments were made by that corporation with the label "Old South Brew," except to the customers of Long and Isenhour.

In September, 1933, Long and Isenhour and their associates contracted to purchase a building in Statesville, N. C., to be used as a brewery, and in October, 1933, the Old South Brewing Company, Inc., was chartered by the state of North Carolina. On September 15, 1933, the Eastern Beverage Corporation transferred and assigned to Long and Isenhour its interests in the trade-mark "Old South Brew," and on October 12, 1933, Long and Isenhour assigned the same interest to the Old South Brewing Company, and that company contracted for and engaged the services of the same brewmaster who had brewed the beer at Hammonton, N. J.

A meeting of business men of Statesville was held on December 1, 1933, at which plans for the completion of the proposed brewery and the manufacture and sale of beer under the trade-mark "Old South Brew" were approved. One W. B. King, manager of the plaintiff's Statesville plant, was present at this meeting, and the plaintiff's president was in Statesville a few days thereafter. The newspapers of Statesville carried news items concerning the proposed project.

After Long and Isenhour adopted "Old South Brew" as a trade-mark for the product to be manufactured by the Old South Brewing Company, Inc., they visited beer distributors and retailers in North Carolina, Virginia, and South Carolina for the purposes of interesting them in the products of Old South Brewing Company, Inc., under the trade-mark "Old South Brew," and made arrangements with a number of distributors and retailers to handle the product as soon as it was put out by the brewery in Statesville. "Old South Brew" as a trade-mark for beer and ale to be handled by the Old South Brewing Company, Inc., was extensively advertised by Long and Isenhour in the three states. On the 23d day of March, 1934, Old South Brewing Company, Inc., sent out a letter to the wholesale and retail dealers and distributors of beer in North Carolina, its letterheads showing the trade-mark "Old South Brew," and stated its intention to manufacture the beer under that trademark. These letters were sent to plaintiff's distributors and branch managers at various points in North Carolina.

Up to the date of the trial, the Old South Brewing Company, Inc., had spent and contracted to spend a substantial amount of money in the establishment of its proposed brewery, and while there had been some delay, owing to financial difficulties, it was found by the judge below that the project had not been abandoned, but would be carried through. The Old South Brewing Company, Inc., filed its trade-mark "Old South Brew" and received certificates of registration in the following states and on the following dates: Virginia, July 11, 1934; North Carolina, July 25, 1934; Georgia, August 2, 1934; Florida, August 2, 1934; Tennessee, August 3, 1934; South Carolina, September 6, 1934. On June 20, 1934, the company filed its trade-mark "Old South Brew" in the United States Patent Office in Washington, class use since September 1, 1933.

The plaintiff is a corporation with its principal place of business in Chattanooga, Tenn., and was organized in August, 1933, and in April, 1934, began the actual brewing of ale and beer. The plaintiff selected the words "Old South," as a trade-mark for its products in April, 1934, but did not begin its use until June 11, 1934, when it shipped its product labeled "Old South" into Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Florida, and Alabama. On July 6, 1934, it filed the trade-mark "Old South," in the United States Patent Office in Washington, class use since June 8, 1934. Plaintiff was notified by counsel for the defendant, Old South Brewing Company, Inc., in a letter written July 3, 1934, that that company was the owner of the trade-mark, but the plaintiff continued to ship its product, into the territory mentioned, under the label "Old South." These shipments of the plaintiff also carried a neck label bearing the legend "Does not Contain More Than Ten Percent Alcohol" until 60 days before the trial in the court below when the use of this label was discontinued. Plaintiff analysed its own beer and ale and knew that the analysis for beer ran from 2.78 per cent. to 3.2 per cent. alcoholic content.

In North Carolina the parent company of the plaintiff maintains branch plants in a number of different towns, among them being Statesville, of which plant W. B. King was the manager. He had served in that capacity for a number of years prior to the year 1933. King attended the Statesville meeting at which the brewery project proposed by Long and Isenhour was discussed.

Two questions are involved: First, whether the words "Old South Brew" are capable of appropriation as a trade-mark or whether they are geographical and descriptive, and therefore not capable of such appropriation. Second, whether the defendant Old South Brewing Company, Inc., is the sole owner of the trade-mark "Old South" if the words are capable of appropriation as a trade-mark.

As to the first question, the judge below reached the conclusion that the words "Old South" or "Old South Brew," taken together, do not constitute a term that is geographical or descriptive in its meaning, but rather indicate a regime or period in history, and that therefore the term is capable of appropriation as a trade-mark. In this conclusion we agree. In Reardon Laboratories, Inc., v. B. & B. Exterminators, Inc. (C.C.A.) 71 F.(2d) 515, will be found a discussion, by this court, of this question. There we held that while a mere descriptive mark or name could not be appropriated as a trade-mark to the exclusion of all others who wish to use the same words, yet, if the words are merely suggestive, and especially if they had acquired, by use, a secondary significance, they could be appropriated by the users to the exclusion of all others. A review of the authorities on this point will be found in that case. In Anheuser-Busch, Inc., v. Budweiser Malt Products Corporation (C.C.A.) 295 F. 306, it was held that the word "Budweiser" though geographical in origin, was nevertheless entitled to protection, because it had acquired a secondary meaning. Here the words "Old South Brew" had been used by the Old South Brewing Company, Inc., and its assignors Long and Isenhour to the extent that it had acquired a secondary significance in the territory in which they were operating. In Coca-Cola Company v. Koke Company of America, 254 U.S. 143, 41 S.Ct. 113, 65 L.Ed. 189, it was held that a secondary meaning of a trade-mark may be acquired by long use, so as to entitle it to protection in equity against infringement, whatever may have been the original weakness of such trade-mark. In Hamilton-Brown Shoe Company v. Wolf Brothers & Company, 240 U.S. 251, 36 S.Ct. 269, 60 L.Ed. 629, the Supreme Court upheld as a valid trade-mark the words "The American Girl," as...