138 Iowa 228 | Iowa | 1907
The plaintiff was organized as an insurance company in 1808, under the laws of Great Britain, and under name of the “Atlas Assurance Company.” In
i Paul on Trade-Marks, section 215; Von Mumm v. Frash (C. C.), 56 Fed. 830; Shaver v. Shaver, 54 Iowa, 208. And it has been held that the confusion of names in business is sufficient ground for the issuance of an injunction. McLean v. Fleming, supra; Weener v. Brayton, 152 Mass. 101 (25 N. E. 46, 8 L. R. A. 640) ; Bradley v. Norton, 33 Conn. 157 (87 Am. Dec. 200) ; Higgins v. Higgins, 144 N. Y. 462 (39 N. E. 490, 27 L. R. A. 42, 43 Am. St. Rep. 769); Sartor v. Schaden, 125 Iowa, 696. In the latter case, it was said: “A cause of action for the wrongful use of a trade name by another arises where there is a confusion of goods put upon the market by the respective parties, where there have been actual mistakes or sales of one product for another, or where the similarity is such that one product may readily be mistaken for the other.” The use of the principal word, “ Atlas,” in the plaintiff’s name, is sufficient ground for the issuance of injunction restraining its use by the defendant. In Saxlehner v. Eisner, 179 U. S. 53 (21 Sup. Ct. 7, 45 L. Ed. 60), it was said: “It is not necessary'to constitute an infringement that every word of the trade-mark: should be appropriated. It is sufficient that enough be taken to deceive the public in the purchase of a protected article.”
The appellee complains of the limitation in the decree to the use of the word in its present form. We think the prayer of the petition should be granted without limitation, and as thus modified the judgment of the district court is affirmed.
Supplemental Opinion.
The judgment of the trial court is therefore affirmed, without modification.— Affirmed.