Ball

Plaintiffs Joseph A. Ball, Bernard G. Segal, and Edward L. Wright, individually and in behalf of the American College of Trial Lawyers and its members, instituted this action sounding in “unfair competition” against defendant American Trial Lawyers Association seeking to enjoin and restrain defendant from “using in any way the name American Association of Trial Lawyers [¿v'c], or any other name confusingly, misleadingly or deceptively similar to the name American College of Trial Lawyers.” The trial court, sitting without a jury, rendered judgment in favor of defendant and denied plaintiffs any relief. Plaintiffs appeal from the adverse judgment. We have concluded that the record before us supports the claim for relief and that the judgment should be reversed for the reasons which we shall set forth below.

I.

The trial court’s delineation of the background facts and of the evidence in its “Memorandum Opinion” is fair and full. We, therefore, adopt so much thereof as we deem necessary to an intelligent comprehension of the issues raised on this appeal, with the addition of a few footnotes and insertions or deletions in interests of clarity or brevity.

“The plaintiffs…