Opinion
No. 1871.
Submitted January 18, 1927.
Decided March 7, 1927.
Appeal from Decision of Commissioner of Patents.
Application by the Naamlooze Vennootschap Lakverf Vernisfabriek "Ivormica" for registration of trade-mark opposed by the Sherwin-Williams Company. From a decision of the Commissioner of Patents, sustaining opposition, applicant appeals. Affirmed.
J.T. Newton, of Washington, D.C., for appellant.
J.B. Fay and T.H. Fay, both of Cleveland, Ohio, for appellee.
Before MARTIN, Chief Justice, ROBB, Associate Justice, and GRAHAM, Presiding Judge of the United States Court of Customs Appeals.
Appeal from concurrent decisions of the Patent Office tribunals, in a trade-mark opposition proceeding, sustaining the opposition and denying registration to appellant.
Many years prior to the adoption and use of its mark by the applicant, the opposer, the Sherwin-Williams Company, adopted a mark consisting of a terrestial globe and a representation of a tilted paint can discharging its contents over the upper half of the globe. The phrase "Cover the Earth" has been used by the opposer, in connection with its pictorial device. A very large business has been built up by the opposer, and the mark has great value.
Applicant's mark is applied to goods of the same class. It also uses a representation of the globe, to which paint is being applied in a manner somewhat different from that employed in the Sherwin-Williams mark, but an ocular inspection of the two marks discloses that they are deceptively similar. The decision therefore is affirmed.
Affirmed.