Hamilton-Brown Shoe Co. v. Wolf Brothers & Co., 240 U.S. 251 (1916) (No. 37)
1916
Hamilton-Brown Shoe Co. v. Wolf Brothers & Co., 240 U.S. 251 (1916) (No. 37)
Supreme Court of the United States
1916
Case name: Hamilton-Brown Shoe Co. v. Wolf Brothers & Co. Opinion filed: 1916-02-21 Docket No.: 37 Citations: • 240 U.S. 251 • 36 S. Ct. 269 • 60 L. Ed. 629 • 1916 U.S. LEXIS 1448 Case holding summaries: • an infringer cannot take advantage of its own wrong; plaintiff carries its burden of proof when it shows the extent of defendant's total sales • holding that, as a matter of law, a trademark used on shoes, "The American Girl," was not a "geographical or descriptive term" • the term THE AMERICAN GIRL held not to be "a geographical or descriptive term" without reference to survey evidence • AMERICAN GIRL not a geographic term • "established principle[ ] of equity" that a defendant may not defeat full recovery by "confusing his own gains with those which belong to plaintiff, or because of the inherent impossibility of making an approximate apportionment" • "The right to use a trade-mark is recognized as a kind of property . . . ." • equity requires trademark infringer to account for and yield up gains to the true owner; an infringer's profits are an equitable measure of compensation, allowed by analogy to a trustee's liability for profits acquired by wrongful use of trust property
