Jameson v Dublin Distillers' Company

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 06 December 1899
• Date: 06 December 1899
• Docket Number: (1899. No. 277.)
• Court: Chancery Division (Ireland)

Chancery Division

V.-C.

(1899. No. 277.)

JAMESON

and

DUBLIN DISTILLERS' COMPANY.

"Singer" Machine Manufacturers v. WilsonELR 3 App. Cas. 376.

Beazley v. SoaresELR 22 Ch. D. 660.

Bodega Company v. Owens 23 L. R. I. 371.

Burgess v. Burgess 3 D. M. & G. 896.

Du Boulay v. Du BoulayELR L. R. 2 P. C. 430.

Hendriks v. MontaguELR 17 Ch. D. 638.

Holt v. SmithUNK 4 Times L. R. 329.

James v. JamesELR L. R. 13 Eq. 421.

Lever v. GoodwinELR 36 Ch. D. 1.

Levy v. WalkerELR 10 Ch. D.436, at p. 448.

Massam v. Thorley's Cattle Food CompangELR 14 Ch. D. 748.

Millington v. FoxENR 3 My. & Cr. 338.

North Cheshire & Manchester Brewery Company v. Manchester Brewery CompanyELR [1899] A. C. 83.

Reddaway v. BanhamELR [1896] A. C. 199.

Saxlehner v. Apollinaris CompanyELR [1897] 1 Ch. 893.

Singer Manufacturing Company v. LoogELR 8 App. Cas. 15.

The Bodega Co. v. Owens 23 L. R. I. 371, at p. 384.

Turton v. TurtonELR 42 Ch. D. 128.

Wotherspoon v. CurrieELR L. R. 5 H. L. 508.

Trade name — Name indicating manufacturer — Two firms of same surname — Name identified with manufacture of one — Right to exclusive use of — User without qualifying words — Tendency to deceive.

VOL. I.J/ CHANCERY DIVISION. 43 JAMESON v. DUBLIN DISTILLERS' COMPANY. v.-c. 1899. (1899. No. 277.) Nov. 15, 18. 17, 18. Trade name—Name indicating manufacturer—Two firms of same surname— Dee.6. Name identified with manufacture of one—Right to exclusive use of—User without qualifying words—Tendency to deceive. A distillery in Dublin was carried on under the name of John Jameson & Son until 1891, when the firm was converted into a limited liability company under the name of John Jameson & Son, Limited (the plaintiffs). Another distillery, founded about the same period in Dublin, was carried on under the name first of William Jameson, then of Jameson and Robertson, and finally of William Jameson and Company, until 1889, when, with two other distilleries, it was acquired by the defendants, the Dublin Distillers' Company, Limited. Previous to that date the labels used for whiskey made at this distillery bore the name " William Jameson & Co." or " W. Jameson & Co.," but in 1898 the defendants altered the label, substituting for those words the description "Jameson's Whiskey." The plaintiffs thereupon required the defendants to revert to the former words, and describe their whiskey as " William Jameson & Co.'s," or even as " Wm. Jameson & Co.'s." The defendants declined to do this, but offered to insert the letter " W." before " Jameson's." In an action to restrain the defendants from selling their whiskey under the name of " Jameson's Whiskey," without the prefix " William" or some other distinctive indication that the whiskey was not that manufactured by the plaintiffs, the Court was of opinion on the evidence that the name " Jameson's Whiskey" had become so identified with the plaintiffs' whiskey, that the use of it by the defendants, without qualifying words to show that the article was their own make, was likely to mislead purchasers into the belief that it was the " Jameson's Whiskey" made by the plaintiffs; that there was not any indication on the labels that the defendants' whiskey was that made at the distillery of William Jameson & Co., and that the defenÂdants' conduct was likely and tended to so mislead : Reid, that the plaintiffs were entitled to an injunction. AcrioN by John Jameson & Son, Limited, against the Dublin Distillers' Company, Limited, for an injunction to restrain the defendants, their servants, workmen, agents, and travellers, and representatives, from selling whiskey manufactured by the 44 THE IRISH REPORTS. [1900. V.- C. defendants under the name of "Jameson's Whiskey," without the 1899. prefix " William " or some other distinctive indication that the JAM KSON whiskey sold by the defendants was not the whiskey manufactured v. Dusax by the plaintiffs ; and from selling the whiskey manufactured by Disnmas' Co. tion the defendants under any other name or descrip calculated to mislead or confuse the public as to the whiskey sold by the deÂfendants being the whiskey of the plaintiffs' manufacture ; and from using the word "Jameson " singly instead of the names " William Jameson & Co." as part of, or in connection with, any labels affixed upon any bottles of whiskey sold by the deÂfendants, or labels issued by them to their customers or others, and from using the name "Jameson " singly in their advertisements or circulars : and for damages. The statement of claim alleged :-1. The plaintiffs were in 1891 registered as a limited liability company for the purpose of acquiring and carrying on the business of distillers and manufacÂturers of whiskey as formerly carried on by the firm of John Jameson & Son at their place of business at Bow-street in the City of Dublin : the said distillery was founded about 1780, and in 1810 it passed into the possession of the late John Jameson, and successive generations of his family continued to carry on the said business under the name of John Jameson & Son, until the forÂmation of the plaintiff company who have since carried it on. 2. The whiskey manufactured by the plaintiffs is of superior quality to that ordinarily met with, and has acquired so high a reputation with the public that it commands a higher price in the market than any other whiskey made in Ireland. It is also so well known that for a long period in the spirit trade, and amongst the public generally, the use of the term " Jameson's Whiskey" would only be understood as signifying the whiskey manufactured by the plaintiffs or their predecessors John Jameson & Son, and not the whiskey manufactured by the defendants. 3. In 1889 the defendants were registered as a limited liability company for the purpose of acquiring and carrying on the businesses of three other distilleries, namely, William Jameson & Company, George Roe & Company, and the Dublin Whiskey Distillery Company. The distillery carried on by William Jameson & Company had been in existence for a great number of years, and had been Vo'.. I.] CHANCERY DIVISION. 45 carried on at Marrowbone-lane, Dublin, first under the name of v.-C. William Jameson, then of James Jameson, then as Jameson & 1899. Robertson, and, finally, as William Jameson & Company ; but jA1"2" the whiskey manufactured at the Marrowbone-lane distillery had DuBrax DISTILL never acquired so great a reputation with the public as the products Co.ERS° of the plaintiffs' distillery ; it never commanded so high a price in the market ; and it was never known in the spirit trade or amongst the public generally, as " Jameson's Whiskey " without the prefix " William " or some other distinctive indication that would distinÂguish it from the whiskey manufactured by the plaintiffs ; and until the affixing by the defendants of the new label, and the publication by them of the advertisements and posters hereinafter mentioned it was never sold or advertised as Jameson's Whiskey without such prefix or distinctive indication as aforesaid. 4. When the business of William Jameson & Company was purchased by the defendants the label issued and used by William Jameson & Company who bottled their own whiskey was printed in gold and black on white enamelled paper, and had at the top in large gold letters the words " Wm. Jameson...