Drop Dead Co. v. S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc.

Plaintiff-appellee brought suit against defendants-appellants for unfair competition and for infringement of a copyright and a trademark. The district court granted a permanent injunction on all three grounds and retained the issue of damages to be determined by a master after the interlocutory judgment became final. ( 210 F.Supp. 816 ) Appellants appeal from that interlocutory judgment. This court has jurisdiction of the appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292 (a) (1). The jurisdiction of the district court is an issue in this appeal and will be discussed later.

Plaintiff-appellee is a Wisconsin corporation producing primarily what is commonly known as “Johnson’s Wax,” and manufacturing a variety of household products, one of which is an aerosol furniture wax named PLEDGE. Plaintiff registered its PLEDGE trademark (Reg. No. 668,526) and secured a copyright certificate for its PLEDGE label. Plaintiff began using the PLEDGE trademark on January 31, 1958, and the PLEDGE label on March 15, 1958.

Appellant Drop Dead Co., Inc., is a California corporation. One of the household products which it manufactures is an aerosol furniture wax called PROMISE. The three individual…