State v. Trumbull

• Decision Date: 01 October 1962
• Docket Number: No. CR,CR
• Citation: 24 Conn.Supp. 129,187 A.2d 445
• Court: Circuit Court of Connecticut. Connecticut Circuit Court, Appellate Division
• Parties: , 24 Conn.Supp. 129 STATE of Connecticut v. Alvin L. TRUMBULL 7-0662.

Page 445

187 A.2d 445

1 Conn.Cir.Ct. 454, 24 Conn.Supp. 129

STATE of Connecticut v. Alvin L. TRUMBULL

No. CR 7-0662.

Circuit Court of Connecticut, Appellate Division.

Argued April 6, 1962.

Decided Oct. 1, 1962.

Edward R. Doyle, Hartford, for appellant (defendant).

James A. Varrone, Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee (state).

KOSICKI, Judge.

The defendant was convicted, after a trial to the court, on four counts for violation of § 53-347, ¹ relating to the forging or counterfeiting of manufacturers' labels, and on a charge of conspiracy to violate § 53-347, which offense, under the provisions of the conspiracy statute, § 54-197, is a misdemeanor. In his appeal, the defendant has assigned a number of errors. For simplicity and convenience, consistent with the rights of the defendant, these may be classified as follows: (1) Failure of the court to find certain facts which were admitted or undisputed; (2) failure to correct the finding by striking therefrom numerous subordinate findings of facts; (3) the addition by the court of certain findings at the request of the state; (4) error in all of the conclusions of the court; and (5) the general assignment of error in the ultimate conclusion that upon all the evidence the defendant was guilty of the crimes charged beyond a reasonable doubt.

All but the last assignment have reference to the finding, and the ultimate question raised by these assignments is essentially the same as that presented by the final claim, namely, that the court upon all the evidence erroneously found the accused guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Upon this last assignment of error, it is seldom necessary for the protection of the defendant's rights to examine in detail the numerous exceptions the defendant makes to the finding. State v. Guilfoyle,109 Conn. 124, 139, 145 A. 761; State v. Pundy, 147 Conn. 7, 8, 156 A.2d 193. A finding in a criminal case tried to the court does, however, perform a useful function in that it serves to show the conclusions reached by the court on conflicting evidence, which conclusions, if reasonably reached, must be accepted. State v. Simborski, 120 Conn. 624, 626, 182 A. 221. The finding becomes material only in the event of a claim that the conclusion of the court as to the defendant's guilt was not properly supported by the facts found as distinguished from the evidence. State v. Zack, 109 Conn. 29, 30, 145 A. 24; see State v. Plant, 22 Conn.Sup. 436, 442, 174 A.2d 539 (App.Div.). In deference to the insistence of counsel and in recognition of the large amount of effort expended in the preparation of the finding and the exceptions thereto, we have given careful and detailed consideration to all of the claims for correction. We can perceive no changes which could be made in the subordinate facts or conclusions drawn from them which would be of any advantage to the defendant or would materially affect the support given by them to the ultimate conclusion reached.

The evidence shown by the finding to have been accepted by the court as true, supplemented by the inferences the court could reasonably draw, may be summarized as follows: The defendant engaged in the business of engineering, manufacturing, designing, inspecting and packaging bearings in a shop located in Meriden. In June, 1960, he and George Humphrey, a printer, agreed at a meeting in Meriden to undertake the manufacture of cardboard bearing boxes imprinted with the labels and trademarks of known bearing manufacturers, referred to herein as Fafnir, New Departure, Norma-Hoffman, and S.K.F. The purpose of this operation was the sale of surplus bearings of these manufacturers as the bearings might be acquired from the United States government or other sources at a small fraction of the cost of new bearings as sold by the manufacturers. Such sales were intended to be under the pretense that the surplus bearings were in fact new bearings legitimately offered for sale as such. The defendant and Humphrey agreed to manufacture such boxes and containers and the defendant agreed to sell them to others engaged in the business of marketing bearings. The defendant also agreed to procure surplus bearings for packaging in the counterfeit boxes and to arrange for the sale of the boxes or the disposition of the packaged bearings. It was agreed that the proceeds from such sales, after expenses, were to be divided equally between the defendant and Humphrey. The defendant furnished the required capital for the purchase of printing, engraving and box-making equipment and other needed materials, in New York and elsewhere, all of which were delivered to Humphrey's shop in Massachusetts. Payment was made by the defendant through checks drawn on his account in a bank in Meriden.

Using the genuine original boxes and labels of Fafnir, New Departure, Norma-Hoffman, and S.K.F. bearings as samples, Humphrey designed art work necessary to duplicate the labels of these manufacturers. Printing plates were then made by a company in Massachusetts. Humphrey cut and printed a large number of boxes of various sizes, duplicating in size and appearance boxes used in the packaging and sale of bearings of the manufacturers mentioned. All of these boxes had printed thereon the counterfeit labels and trademarks, as well as distinguishing code numbers, of such manufacturers without their knowledge or consent. During the period from July 1960, to May, 1961, counterfeit unpackaged boxes of all of such manufacturers, in quantities as high as 50,000 to 60,000 at a time, were shipped or delivered by Humphrey to the defendant in Meriden and Simsbury, Connecticut. On a number of occasions during this period, the defendant sent to Humphrey surplus bearings to be wrapped and packaged by him in the counterfeit boxes; these were thereafter delivered by Humphrey to the defendant in Meriden. The defendant stored quantities of unpackaged boxes bearing counterfeit labels of Fafnir, New Departure, Norma-Hoffman and S.K.F. in his plant at Meriden and from there would sell or offer them for sale to others. Many thousands of unpackaged boxes with counterfeited labels were sold by the defendant at the rate of 2 percent of the list price of the manufacturer's genuine package containing bearings. The defendant received a higher price for the counterfeit boxes than he would have received for the same boxes without the counterfeit labels. He dealt with one Granowitz, who was a dealer in surplus bearings having a place of business in New York City. He led Granowitz to believe that if Granowitz sent the defendant surplus bearings for packaging, he would package them in individual, genuinely labeled boxes of the respective manufacturers. Granowitz sent such surplus bearings to the defendant, who packaged them in counterfeit boxes and shipped them to Granowitz by motor freight, railway express and parcel post. Payments from Granowitz, by check of Bearings, Limited, were received by the defendant in Meriden; the checks were endorsed by him and deposited in the Puritan Bank and Trust Company in Meriden; and the defendant drew money from this account. Payments from this account were made to Humphrey. The profits from these operations, divided between the defendant and Humphrey, amounted to not less than $16,000. The undivided profits amounted to $6000. All four of the manufacturers named suffered loss of sales as a result of these operations.

The defendant claims that no violation of § 53-347 had been proved beyond a reasonable doubt in that the state had failed to establish certain essential elements of the charge; these we shall examine in detail. Each of the four counts, as augmented by the bill of particulars filed by the prosecution, and as relied on by the accused for his defense, in the light of the proof adduced on trial charges the defendant with the use, forgery or counterfeiting of the label of one of the manufacturers named, with intent to defraud another, or vending or offering to vend any goods having such forged or counterfeited label thereon, knowing it to be forged or counterfeited, without disclosing the fact to the purchaser.

There is no reported case construing the provisions of § 53-347. The statute is an old one, its prototype having been first enacted in 1847. Although in subsequent revisions its wording had been simplified and its provisions condensed, nevertheless its scope and purpose, as well as the definition of the prohibited acts, have remained substantially unchanged. ² At the time the original statute was passed, the common-law and the general principles of equity respecting the use of trademarks and labels were accepted in this state; and, in numerous civil cases since then, our courts have granted equitable relief against the infringement of trademarks and acts of unfair competition. See such cases as Bradley v. Norton, 33 Conn. 157; Boardman v. Meriden Britannia Co., 35 Conn. 402, 413; Meriden Britannia Co. v. Parker, 39 Conn. 450, 457, 460; Kimball v. Hall, 87 Conn. 563, 89 A. 166, L.R.A.1916E, 632; Middletown Trust Co. v. Middletown National Bank, 110 Conn. 13, 147 A. 22; Yale Cooperative Corporation v. Rogin, 133 Conn. 563, 53 A.2d 383; Transparent Ruler Co. v C-Thru Ruler Co., 135 Conn. 181, 62 A.2d 668. The construction to be placed on the statute in question should be such as would be in harmony with the decisions of our courts in analogous situations involving civil wrongs, and such as would give due regard to the identity of principles governing these situations. The public interest contemplated by the statute is to promote honest and fair dealing in the sale or distribution of goods under distinctive labels. This purpose is served by protecting the unwary purchaser against deception and by safeguarding the property interest of the honest and reliable manufacturer in the goodwill he had acquired in the means used to identify his product. The words "forge" and "counterfeit" are used synonymously and in...