Upjohn Company v. Schwartz

• Decision Date: 22 December 1954
• Parties: The UPJOHN COMPANY, Plaintiff, v. David SCHWARTZ, doing business as Bryant Pharmaceutical Co., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

131 F. Supp. 649

The UPJOHN COMPANY, Plaintiff, v. David SCHWARTZ, doing business as Bryant Pharmaceutical Co., Defendant.

United States District Court S. D. New York.

December 22, 1954.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Kenyon & Kenyon, New York City, by Ralph L. Chappell, and Hugh A. Chapin, New York City, for plaintiff.

Arthur D. Herrick, New York City, by Morton L. Leavy, New York City, for defendant.

BONDY, District Judge.

Plaintiff, a Michigan corporation, engaged in the preparation, distribution and sale of pharmaceutical products, brought this action against defendant, a citizen of the State of New York, doing business as the Bryant Pharmaceutical Company, likewise engaged in the preparation, distribution and sale of pharmaceutical products, for trade-mark infringement and unfair competition.

In its complaint plaintiff alleged two causes of action as to each of seven pharmaceutical products, one for trade-mark infringement and one for unfair competition, and as to all collectively a final cause of action for unfair competition. Plaintiff claims direct trade-mark infringement only in so far as the trade-name Syrocol is confusingly similar to the registered trade-mark Cheracol.

Plaintiff and defendant manufacture, or have manufactured for them according to their specifications, the products herein involved. At times both plaintiff and defendant bought some of such products from the same manufacturer. These products consist of ingredients which are enclosed in capsules or compressed into sugar-coated tablets, or are in liquid form. Though sometimes sold pursuant to a memorandum prescription, the products of both parties may be dispensed without a prescription.

Other than that defendant's Capulets differ in color from plaintiff's corresponding Unicaps, each product of defendant is almost identical with plaintiff's corresponding product in color, size, shape and ingredients, or in aroma, flavor, color and ingredients. Though the color of plaintiff's liquid Kaopectate and defendant's corresponding liquid Neutrapect is the result of the combination of their ingredients, none of the colors, sizes, shapes, aromas or flavors of any of the products are functional. Plaintiff's products are: (1) Unicap, a football shaped, yellowish-tan, multiple vitamin capsule (plaintiff introduced Unicap in 1940, has spent over $1,200,000 in advertising it and has sold over $88,000,000 worth); (2) Zymacap, a round shaped, red, multiple vitamin capsule (plaintiff introduced Zymacap in 1945, has spent over $825,000 in advertising it and has sold over $33,000,000 worth); (3) a vitamin preparation put up in a lenticular shaped, bright red tablet (plaintiff introduced in 1945, has spent over $360,000 in advertising it and has sold over $11,200,000 worth); (4) Ferrated Liver, an iron, liver and vitamin preparation put up in both an ovoid shaped, dark green capsule and a lenticular shaped, bluish-green tablet (plaintiff introduced the capsule in 1941 and the tablet in 1944, has spent over $600,000 in advertising the two and has sold over $23,500,000 worth of them); (5) Ferrated Liver with Folic Acid, an iron, liver and vitamin preparation put up in a lenticular shaped, red tablet (plaintiff introduced Ferrated Liver with Folic Acid in 1948, has spent over $99,000 in advertising it and has sold over $3,300,000 worth); (6) Cheracol, a cherry flavored, red cough syrup (plaintiff introduced Cheracol in 1924, has spent over $370,000 in advertising it and has sold over $40,300,000 worth); and (7) Kaopectate, an odd-flavored, off-white antidiarrhea preparation (plaintiff introduced Kaopectate in 1936, has spent over $230,000 in advertising it and has sold over $12,400,000 worth). There is evidence that Unicap and Zymacap capsules darken with age. Defendant's corresponding products are: (1) Capulets, brownish-tan in color; (2) Byracaps; (3) Hi B & C; (4) Iron & Liver Capsules and Iron & Liver Tablets; (5) Iron & Liver with Folic Acid; (6) Syrocol; and (7) Neutrapect. The evidence discloses that defendant first sold Capulets, Byracaps, Hi B & C, Iron & Liver Capsules, and Iron & Liver Tablets in 1951.

All the products of plaintiff and defendant with the exception of plaintiff's liquid Cheracol are packed in brown glass bottles. There are labels on these bottles which bear the trade-mark or trade-name of the product and the name of plaintiff or defendant as distributor thereof. The plaintiff's bottles are packed in pasteboard boxes upon which there appears the name "Upjohn" and the registered trade-mark of each product. The bottles of both parties are of different sizes. The small are for direct over-the-counter sale, the large are to enable pharmacists to repack the products into smaller containers of their own for sale to consumers. When pharmacists use their own containers they often place labels thereon which do not identify the manufacturer or bear the trade-mark or trade-name of the product.

The chemical formulas of all the products are in common use. Plaintiff does not claim any right to prevent defendant or anyone else from using them. None of the shapes, sizes, colors, flavors or aromas of these products is unique, or distinctive or different from those used in products of other manufacturers. Plaintiff does not claim that it has any exclusive right to any particular color, shape, size, aroma or taste of any of its products. It concedes that defendant's bottles and labels are not unfair. Plaintiff only claims the exclusive right to the particular combination of size, shape, color and ingredients or the particular combination of taste, aroma, color and ingredients utilized for each product in question because it has established a secondary meaning therein by extensive advertising, the long continued sale thereof and great demand therefor.

There is no doubt that as between plaintiff and defendant plaintiff is the first comer, and that the similarity between plaintiff's and defendant's products is not a coincidence but the result of defendant's deliberate copying. Defendant has not offered any valid excuse for so imitating plaintiff's products and his purpose could only be to benefit by the demand that plaintiff has created for such products. However, since plaintiff's products are not covered by patents, defendant is legally entitled to slavishly duplicate them and so profit by plaintiff's efforts so long as he does not interfere with any of plaintiff's rights. Defendant does not interfere with any of plaintiff's rights in the absence of proof by plaintiff that the combinations of size, shape, color and ingredients of its capsules and tablets and the combinations of color, flavor, aroma and ingredients of its liquids have acquired a secondary meaning and there is likelihood of confusion between plaintiff's and defendant's products, or that there has been "palming-off" of defendant's products as plaintiff's products. See Algren Watch Findings Co. v. Kalinsky, 2 Cir., 197 F.2d 69, 72; Chas. D. Briddell, Inc. v. Alglobe Trading Corp., 2 Cir., 194 F.2d 416, 418, 419; General Time Instruments Corp. v. United States Time Corp., 2 Cir., 165 F.2d 853, 854, certiorari denied 334 U.S. 846, 68 S.Ct. 1515, 92 L.Ed. 1770; Mavco, Inc. v. Hampden Sales Ass'n, 273 App.Div. 297, 302-304, 77 N.Y.S.2d 510; American Binder Co. v. Regal & Wade Mfg. Co., Sup., 106 N.Y.S.2d 543, 546.

To establish secondary meaning "it must be shown that (1) the design is a mark of distinction identifying its source, and (2) the purchasers are moved to buy the article because of its source." Lucien Lelong, Inc., v. Lander Co., 2 Cir., 164 F.2d 395, 397. "The article itself must be so clearly identified with its source that its supply from any other source is clearly calculated to deceive the public and lead it to purchase the goods of one for that sic of another." Zangerle & Peterson Co. v. Venice Furn. Novelty Mfg. Co., 7 Cir., 133 F.2d 266, 270. Plaintiff must show "that the appearance of his wares has in fact come to mean that some particular person — the plaintiff may not be individually known — makes them, and that the public cares who does make them, and not merely for their appearance and structure. * * * The critical question of fact at the outset always is whether the public is moved in any degree to buy the article because of its source and what are the features by which it distinguishes that source." Chas. D. Briddell, Inc., v. Alglobe Trading Corp., supra, 194 F.2d at page 419; Crescent Tool Co. v. Kilborn & Bishop Co., 2 Cir., 247 F. 299, 300.

Purchasers of pharmaceutical products are generally interested in the reliability of the source of pharmaceuticals. See Sinko v. Snow-Craggs Corp., 7 Cir., 105 F.2d 450, 453. Consequently, the decisive factor here is what distinguishes plaintiff as the source of its products for the ordinarily prudent purchaser. Plaintiff claims to be identified by the combinations of appearance and ingredients of its products, but it has failed to prove this. The "make-ups" of plaintiff's products are not unique and the average consumer is aware that like "make-ups" are, and have been, used for different kinds of pharmaceutical products. In view of this it is improbable that the average consumer would be able to identify the appearances of plaintiff's products with any particular source and plaintiff has failed to show that it has succeeded in appreciably lessening that improbability. Though extensive advertising and widespread sales of a product, and the long continued use of a design or combination for that product are some evidence that such design or combination has acquired a secondary meaning, Shaler Co. v. Rite-Way Products, 6 Cir., 107 F.2d 82, certiorari denied 310 U.S. 634, 60 S.Ct. 1076, 84 L.Ed. 1403; Wisconsin Electric Co. v. Dumore Co., 6 Cir., 35 F. 2d 555, certiorari granted 281 U.S. 710, 50 S.Ct. 333, 74 L.Ed. 1132, certiorari dismissed 282 U.S. 813, 51 S.Ct. 214, 75 L.Ed. 728, they are not conclusive. See Chas....