Protect Trade Name A-case- which: has aroused consider-petition. and ' i 0 mark and sought relief by injunction. In giving an opinion Judge Helmick stated that the plaintiff' was a well-known American. company which for years had manufactured, marketed and extensively advertised in the. United States the familiar soft drink known as Coca-Cola. The defendant was a China Trade Act "Corporation and carried on business in Shanghai as the Eddie. Aerated pee Ca, and was marketing in under the.name of "Eddie-[Cola" a soft drink. of the same general colour and appearance as Coca-Cola in metal capped: bottles of the same appearance as plaintiff's. bout the same size and of somewhat
The defendant, he added, had taken the position that it was free to manufacture and sell a beverage [using the kola nut extract either base or as a flavouring, provided it did not hold out to. the buying Public that such a. beverage was Coca-Cola or: label it or offer it for sale' in. such way as to deceive or confuse the public No" one. could quarrel with: this. statement, he said, but the issue was whether defendant's beverage, Eddie-Kola, did confuse or deceive the public or was likely to do so. The defendant had contended that kole'or&cola was a familiar ingredient defined in dictionaries and pharmacopoeias and. that the Word was: a descriptive one* which any manufacturer could. rightfully use upon: a beverage if the use was hot designed to deceive or confuse the public.
The Judge then referred to several cases. in the" United. States in which the Coca-Cola Company had been unusually successful in protecting its trade name. He added that the Court did not feel called upon to act as umpire in some sort of game wherein a competitor to see how close he. could: come to the. forbidden mark-withóut touching -it and incurring-the-penalty The question was whether the defendant's mark would be likely to cause confusion or mis. take in the mind of the public or to deceive purchasers. In conclusion, he stated that defendant had voluntarily agreed to discontinue the use of plaintiffs registered Chinese name trade name but this should be mentioned in the decree for the sake of completeness Farewell to Mr. and
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.