West Point Manufacturing Co. v. Detroit Stamping Co.’s Empirical Analysis
222 F.2d 581 · 1955
Citation profile
38 federal appellate · 6 district · 3 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 87 later decisions — most recently November 2002 · most notably Boston Professional Hockey Ass'n v. Dallas Cap & Emblem Mfg., Inc. (1975), Truck Equipment Service Co. v. Fruehauf Corp. (1976)
38 federal appellate · 6 district · 3 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Applies 15 U.S.C. § 1051 (§ 1 of the Trademark Act of 1946 (Lanham Act)) · 15 U.S.C. § 1114 (§ 32 of the Trademark Act of 1946 (Lanham Act))
Relies on Kellogg Co. v. National Biscuit Co. · Singer Manuf'G Co v. June Manuf'G Co · Scott Paper Co. v. Marcalus Manufacturing Co. · Howe Scale Company of 1886 v. Wyckoff Seamans Benedict · G. & C. Merriam Co. v. Saalfield
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 87 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“To acquire a secondary meaning in the minds of the buying public, an article of merchandise when shown to a prospective customer must prompt the affirmation, “That is the article I want because I know its source,” and not the negative inquiry as to “Who makes that article?” In other words, the article must proclaim its identification with its source, and not simply stimulate inquiry about it.”
11 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“'Where the copying by one party of another's product is not done to deceive purchasers and thus derive a benefit from another's name and reputation, but rather to avail oneself of a design which is attractive and desirable, a case of unfair competition is not made out.'”
5 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““Much is said in cases of unfair competition, involving the copying of the goods of a competitor, about the ‘confusion’ of the public. In some instances, references to such confusion would seem to imply that if the article copied is identical to the original article, the public, not being able to tell the difference between the two articles, is confused; and that, since the copier is the cause of such confusion, he is accordingly guilty of unfair competition. That is not the law. The confusion for which the copier is held responsible, under the law of unfair competition, is not confusion resulting from the inability on the part of the public to distinguish between similar articles, one of which has been copied from the other. It is rather confusion as to origin, not of goods, which controls on the question of unfair competition; and it is only if there is such relationship or analogy between the goods of a complainant and those of a defendant that ordinary retail purchasers are likely to be deceived as to their origin that there is, in law, unfair competition. “The identical imitation of the goods of another does not in itself constitute unfair competition. * * * ””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.