TRADE MARKS AND TRADE NAMES - UNFAIR COMPETITION - RESTRICTIONS ON USE OF PERSONAL NAME

Authors

Reed T. Phalan, University of Michigan Law School

Abstract

For many years plaintiff and its predecessors used the name "Dougherty's" in marketing straight whiskey throughout the United States. In 1939 defendant, Edwin L. Dougherty, began selling blended whiskey in Pennsylvania, likewise using the name "Dougherty's," to dominate his labels, and in 1940, pursuant to a previously formed intention, plaintiff began selling blended whiskey under the same name. Plaintiff brought an action to enjoin defendant's use of the name "Dougherty's." Held, through plaintiff's prior use, the name "Dougherty's" had come to be associated by the purchasing public with plaintiff's whiskey; therefore defendant's use of the same name to dominate his labels tended to confuse the public, and although defendant did not intend the confusion, he should be enjoined from using his name in a dominating position on his labels. However, he might announce himself on the label as the distributor with the words "blended and bottled for Edwin L. Dougherty" in small type. J. A. Dougherty's Sons v. Dougherty, (D. C. Pa. 1940) 36 F. Supp. 149.

Recommended Citation

Reed T. Phalan, TRADE MARKS AND TRADE NAMES - UNFAIR COMPETITION - RESTRICTIONS ON USE OF PERSONAL NAME, 39 Mich. L. Rev. 1047 (1941).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol39/iss6/26