UNFAIR COMPETITION - TRADE MARKS AND TRADE NAMES -NATURE OF RELIEF AGAINST THE USE OF A MISLEADING TRADE NAME WHICH HAS ACQUIRED A SECONDARY MEANING

The petitioner, a Pennsylvania manufacturer of cigars which contained only Pennsylvania tobacco, but which it had branded "Havana Smokers" since 1902, was ordered by the Federal Trade Commission to cease and desist from using the word "Havana" to designate its product. The petitioner claimed that the brand had acquired a secondary meaning and asked the court to modify the order to permit retention of the word "Havana" qualified by the legend: "Notice. These cigars are made in the United States and only of United States tobacco." Held, the name so used might result in misrepresentation and its use must be abandoned, but that petitioner could have two years within which to eliminate the word from its labels.

H. H.

Heusner & Son v. Federal Trade Commission, (C. C. A. 3d, 1939) 106 F. (2d) 596.