From our private database of 35,400+ case briefs...
Dawn Donut Company, Inc. v. Hart’s Food Stores, Inc.
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
267 F.2d 358 (2d Cir. 1959)
Facts
Dawn Donut Company, Inc. (Dawn) (plaintiff) sold doughnut mix wholesale. Dawn had a federally registered trademark under the Lanham Trade-Mark Act (the Act) for “Dawn,” which it licensed to retail bakeries. Hart’s Food Stores, Inc. (Hart) (defendant) sold doughnuts retail around Rochester, NY, using the “Dawn” mark. Hart did not know about Dawn’s trademark. Dawn sued for infringement and asked the court to enjoin Hart’s use of the mark under § 1114 of the Act. Hart asserted that Dawn had abandoned the mark, because Dawn had not used it in the Rochester area in thirty years. Hart also counterclaimed, seeking to cancel Dawn’s registration for Dawn’s inadequate control of licensees’ use of the mark. At trial, evidence showed that Dawn’s sales representative had seen food marked “Dawn” at Hart while there representing other companies. The representative also visited and had the opportunity to inspect licensees’ operations. The district court dismissed the complaint and counterclaim. Both parties appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Lumbard, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 616,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 35,400 briefs, keyed to 984 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
