Opinion

Celanese Corp. v. E. I. Du Pont De Nemours & Co.

  • 154 F.2d 143
  • 33 C.C.P.A. 857
  • 69 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 69
Court
Court of Customs and Patent Appeals
Filed
Mar 4, 1946
Status
Published
Author
Garrett
On the bench
Garrett, Presiding Judge, and Bland, Hatfield, Jackson, and O'connell, Associate Judges
Cited by
22 cases

court must consider how public would view and remember mark in making a purchase of the merchandise

How later courts described this case

  • court must consider how public would view and remember mark in making a purchase of the merchandise
  • dominant portion is that which consumers would “be likely to remember and use ... as indicating origin of the goods,” even if another part of the mark is more “conspicuous”
  • Smirnoff and Sarnoff “strikingly alike when spoken”
  • DuPont the more conspicuous part of mark, but consumers more likely to remember Clar-apel as the indicator of origin; thus, Clar-apel is dominant part of DuPont Clar-apel mark

Written by the judges who cited it.

The opinion

GARRETT, Presiding Judge

(dissenting).

I respectfully dissent from the conclusion reached by my associates in this case.

It seems to me that the presence of the word “Du Pont” as an integral and presumably valid part of appellee’s mark so clearly states the origin of appellee’s goods that there is not the slightest likelihood of the public being confused or purchasers deceived as to the origin of appellant’s merchandise by the application thereto of the notation “Clarifoil” as a trade-mark, notwithstanding its partial resemblance to the word “Clar-apel.”

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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