Silver Swan Liquor Corp. v. Hiram Walker, Inc.

Suit was brought by plaintiff against defendants for trade-mark infringement and *446 unfair competition. An injunction and accounting were sought. At the trial plaintiff disavowed the claim of unfair competition and the case was submitted upon the question of infringement alone.

Plaintiff is a California corporation, and defendants are creatures of the laws of Delaware. Also involved in the controversy are Hiram Walker & Sons, Inc., of Peoria, Ill., called the parent company, and Tonkin Distributing Company, a copartnership of San Francisco. The question presented for decision appertains to the alleged infringement of a common-law trade-mark for gin, in which the words “Silver Swan” or “White Swan” were used in combination with the pictorial representation of a swan.

About the time of the repeal of the National Prohibition Act ( 27 U.S.C.A. § 1 et seq.), the parties above mentioned apparently coincidentally conceived the idea of marketing gin with the swan label. Plaintiff labeled its product the “Silver Swan,” and defendants, through the parent company, used the name ■ “White Swan.” Plaintiff established a business in the Western states and territories, viz., California,…