Miss World (Uk) Limited v. Mrs. America Pageants, Inc.

Miss World (UK) Ltd. and Miss World (Jersey) Ltd. (collectively hereinafter referred to as “Miss World Ltd.”) appeal the denial of a motion for a preliminary injunction against Mrs. America Pageants, Inc. and its promoters’ use of the title “Mrs. of the World” in a beauty pageant. We affirm.

I.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW

Miss World Ltd. has produced beauty pageants since 1951. Unmarried women from over eighty countries annually vie for the title of “Miss World.” The winner of each competition spends the next year representing Miss World at various charitable and commercial functions.

The Miss World contest, which is held in the United Kingdom, has been publicized and televised in the United States for a number of years. The United States has had a contestant in the pageant since 1952. The competition to select that contestant is run by franchisees of Miss World Ltd. Thus, as Miss World Ltd.’s brief indicates, ‘MISS WORLD’ connotes the corporate entities involved, the Miss World Ltd.’s international pageant, the contestants and, of course, the titlist.

In 1984, one of the defendant-appellees, David Z. Marmel, the producer of the Mrs. America Pageant, incorporated Mrs. of the…