Thaddeus Davids Co. v. Davids

Citations

• 165 F. 792
• 1908 U.S. App. LEXIS 5419

Syllabus

<p>1. Courts (§ 292*) — Federal Courts — Jurisdiction.</p> <p>Where there is no diversity of citizenship in an action in the federal court for infringement of trade-mark and unfair competition, jurisdiction can only be sustained in case there is a cause of action for infringement of a valid trade-mark.</p> <p>[Ed. Note. — Dor other cases, see Courts, Cent. Dig. § 834; Dec. Dig. § 292.*] .</p> <p>2. Trade-Marks and Trade-Names (§ 10*) — Validity—Statutes.</p> <p>Act Cong. Feb. 20, 1905, c. 592, | 1, 33 Stat. 724 (U. S. Comp. St. Supp. 1907, p. .1008), regulating trade-marks, and providing (section 2) that ■ nothing shall prevent the registration of any trade-mark used by the applicant or his predecessors or assigns in commerce, etc., for 10 years next preceding the passage of the act, did not make a surname a valid trade-mark which did not before constitute a valid trade-mark.</p> <p>[Ild. Note. — For other cases, see Trade-Marks and Trade-Names, Cent. Dig. § 14; Dec. Dig. § 30.*]</p> <p>3. Trade-Marks and Trade-Names (§ 10*) — Family Subsame — Subject oe Trade-Mark.</p> <p>Since every man is entitled to use his name reasonably and honestly in every way, and cannot be obliged to abandon or unreasonably restrict such use, a family surname is not the subject of a valid trade-mark as against others of the same name.</p> <p>[Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Trade-Marks and Trade-Names, Cent. Dig. § 14; Dec. Dig. § 10.*</p> <p>Right to use one’s own name, see notes to li. W. Rogers Co. v. iirn. Rogers Mfg. Co., 17 C. C. A. 579; Kathreiner’s MaMcaffeo Fabriken Mit Besehraenkter Haftung v. Pastor Kneipp Medicine Co., 27 O. C. A. 357.]</p> <p>4. Trade-Marks ais'd Trade-Names (§ 10*) — Family Name — Subject of TradeMark.</p> <p>Complainant corporation, the Thaddeus Davids Company, and its predecessors, owned and controlled by persons whose family name was Davids, had used the word “Davids” as a trade-mark in connection with the sale of inks, mucilage, etc., for 25 years. They