Caddy-Imler Creations, Inc. v. John D. Caddy

Appellant corporation sued appellee (its stockholder, officer and director), upon various theories, charging he had competed with it in the production and sale of phonograph records and accompanying booklets which presumably aided in teaching children arithmetic in various schools, public and private.

The court below (a) found the appellee-defendant not guilty of copyright infringement by publishing a book allegedly copied from a book appellant had copyrighted; (b) held appellant had no trademark rights or secondary meaning rights in the phrase “The 390 Basic Arithmetic Facts”; and that appellee did not infringe any trade-mark rights of appellant by using that term in appellee’s books and records; (c) held appellee did not violate any rights of appellant in the use of customers’ lists; and (d) found appellant damaged in the sum of $50 by appellee’s unfair competition.

All such findings and holdings are alleged as errors on this appeal, as well as (e) error in denying appellant’s motion to amend the pleadings to conform to proof by alleging a breach by appellee of an express contract to transfer to appellant “his entire right, title and interest” (emphasis added) to and in a set…