John Morrell & Co. v. Hauser Packing Co.

This is a suit for the alleged infringement of plaintiff’s registered trade-mark “Pride.” In the court below, there was a dismissal both of the bill and of defendant’s counterclaim; plaintiff appeals.

Both parties are engaged in the business of manufacturing and selling cured meat products; John Morrell & Co., the plaintiff appellant, having its principal place of business at Ottumwa, Iowa, and defendant, Hauser Packing Company, at Los Angeles, Cal. The latter denies infringement, but admits use from 1907 of the words “Hauser’s Pride” as the brand for its highest grade hams and bacon. For more than 25 years prior thereto, plaintiff had, for a similai purpose, used the word “Pride,” but only in combination, as “Morrell’s Pride,” “Morrell’s Iowa Pride,” and “Morrell’s Dakota Pride.” Though it never used or claimed the right to use or registered the single word “Pride” until many years after defendant had established its use of “Hauser’s Pride,” plaintiff framed its bill upon the theory that from 1880 forward its tra^e-mark had always been “Pride.”

From the evidence it appears that as early as 1905 it had distributing agencies upon the Pacific Coast — Seattle, San Francisco, and…