Opinion of the Court. their thread upon the public as that of the plaintiffs, and thus to trade upon their reputation. There can be no question of the soundness of the plaintiffs' proposition that, irrespective of the technical question of trade-mark, the defendants have no right to dress their goods up in such manner as to deceive an intending purchaser, and induce him to believe he is buying those of the plaintiffs. Rival manufacturers may lawfully compete for the patronage of the public in the quality and price of their goods, in the beauty and tastefulness of their enclosing packages, in the extent of their advertising, and in the employment of agents, but they have no right, by imitative devices, to beguile the public into buying their wares under the impression they are buying those of their rivals. Perry v. Truefitt, 6 Beav. 66; Croft v. Day, 7 Beav. 84; Lee v. Haley, L. R. 5 Ch. 155; Wotherspoon v. Currie, L. R. 5 H. L. 508; Johnston v. Ewing, 7 App. Cas. 219; Thompson v. Montgomery, 41 Ch. D. 35; Taylor v. Carpenter, 2 Sand. Ch. 603; Amoskeag Mfg. Co. v. Spear, 2 Sand. N. Y. 599; McLean v. Fleming, 96 U. S. 245; Boardman v. Meriden Britannia Co., 35 Connecticut, 402; Gilman v. Hunnewell, 122 Mass. 139. For the better understanding of the question in this case, the respective devices of the plaintiffs and defendants are here given in juxtaposition: It will be seen that in both devices there is a paper label, circular in form, much smaller than the head of the spool, containing, in black letters upon a gilt ground, the name of the manufacturer, the number of the thread, and the words "Best Six Cord," arranged in circular form to correspond with the shape of the label. Around this label in each case is Opinion of the Court. a peripheral border of natural wood, having the number of the thread embossed upon such periphery. The differences are less conspicuous than the general resemblance between the two. At the same time they are such as could not fail to impress themselves upon a person who examined them with a view to ascertain who was the real manufacturer of the thread. Plaintiffs' label contains the words "J. & P. Coats, Best Six Cord" in a gilt band around the border, and in the centre the symbol" 200 Yds." and the number of the thread. Defendants' label contains the words "Merrick Thread Co.," and the number of their thread in the gilt band upon the border, and in the centre the words "Best Six Cord," enclosing a star. The periphery of defendants' spool is also embossed with four stars, instead of the loops of the plaintiffs, as well as the number of the thread. As bearing upon the question of fraudulent intent, the history of these labels is pertinent. Since 1830, plaintiffs have been engaged in the manufacture of thread at Paisley, Scotland, in the name of J. & P. Coats. About 1840, their thread was first put upon the market in this country, and for more than twenty-five years past they have been manufacturing thread at Pawtucket, Rhode Island, in the name of the Conant Thread Company. Prior to this time, six-cord thread was not made in this country, a kind of thread known as glacé, and composed of three cords, being the only thing made prior to 1865. At about the same time the manufacture of this thread was also begun by the Willimantic Linen Company, George A. Clark & Co. and the defendants. From the time plaintiffs' thread began to be exported to this country to the present time their spools have borne the black and gold label, represented above, and still in use. For the past thirty years they have been by far the largest manufacturers and dealers in spool thread in this country. On April 5, 1870, Mr. Conant, the treasurer of the company, obtained a design patent "for embossing the ends of sewing-thread spools," which was subsequently assigned to the plaintiffs, and which covered a "design for ornamenting the ends of the sewing-thread spools, which consists of a chain of loops, aa, within which loops is a Opinion of the Court. number expressive of the number of the thread wound on the spool, substantially as shown and described." The purpose of the design was stated to be "to preserve the number of the thread with which the spool is wound after the label has been destroyed by the act of setting the spool upon the spool-stand of a sewing-machine." This patent expired in 1877. In 1875, (February 9,) plaintiffs registered a trade-mark consisting of "a central label of paper formed of concentric circles of black on a light ground containing on one of the light bands the words 'J. & P. Coats,' 'Best Six Cord,' and on the central black circle the figures and letters '200 Yds.,' and a numeral, On the end of the spool, surrounding the label, is a peripheral band of the natural wood embossed with an ornamental design of crossed lines and central stars, with intermediate spaces, in which are embossed numerals corresponding to that on the centre of the label." The essential features of this trade-mark were declared to be "the label of concentric rings, having in the central spot a numeral, and an embossed peripheral border of the natural wood, including among its ornamental designs the same numeral as that displayed in the centre." This trade-mark has been in use by the plaintiffs from its date to the present time. Upon the part of the defendants, it was shown that the Merrick Thread Company was organized under that name in 1865, soon after which it began and has ever since continued to make at its mills at Holyoke, Mass., 200-yard spools of sixcord thread, and to designate it on one head of the spool with a black and gold label of concentric rings bearing thereon the name, size, and quality of the thread, following in this particular the method of designating such thread which has been in vogue for more than fifty years, and without which it is claimed to be impossible to market such thread. About the same time, plaintiffs began to manufacture at Pawtucket, Rhode Island, the same article, and to designate it with the usual black and gold label the same label they had used abroad upon a thread marketed here. For a dozen years or more the defendants continued this method of designating their thread without objection from the plaintiffs, but, after the expiration of plain Opinion of the Court. tiffs' design patent, and in 1878, defendants embossed this numerical design, somewhat changed, upon their own spool heads, in connection with their own label. Whereupon plaintiffs notified them of their claim to an exclusive use of this combination, and some time thereafter brought this suit, claiming that defendants were guilty of unfair competition in business. In disproof of any intention upon their part to impose their thread upon the public as that of the plaintiffs, defendants show that their thread was expressly advertised through the country as that of the "Merrick Thread Company," or the "Star Thread," and also put in evidence the cabinets furnished by the defendants for the exhibition of their threads in the retail shops, upon which is conspicuously labelled in large gilt letters the words "Merrick's Six Cord Spool Cotton," as well as their advertising or show cards, of which several specimens were shown, which were also lettered conspicuously in the same manner. Their wrappers and boxes are also so clearly distinguishable from those of the plaintiffs that it would be hardly possible to mistake one for the other. We think the defendants have clearly disproved any intention on their part to mislead the dealers who purchase of them. Indeed, such dealers could not possibly fail to know what they were buying, and the fraud, if any, was practised on the buyer of a single or a small number of spools, who might be induced to purchase the thread of the defendants for that of the plaintiffs. In answer to the question whether the defendants have been guilty of a fraudulent imitation of the plaintiffs' marks and symbols, it is also pertinent to consider to what extent the black and gold label, which constitutes an important feature of this device, had been used by others with their consent, and to what extent it has become recognized as a means of identifying the best six-cord thread. If the plaintiffs had been the first and only ones to make use of this label, another person seizing upon and appropriating a black and gold label of the same size, and for the same purpose, might be held guilty of infringement, when, if the plaintiffs had no exclusive right thereto, and defendants had done only what others had Opinion of the Court. done before, they would not be so considered. In this connection it appears that the Willimantic Linen Company, which now seems to be in combination with the plaintiffs, began the use of the black and gold label of concentric rings as early as 1865, as a designation of six-cord 200-yard spool thread, and that other firms, both before and after that, made use of similar labels for the same purpose, including those of Orrs & McNaught, (from 1855 to 1870,) George A. Clark, J. & J. Clark, the Williston Mills, the Semples, the firm of Kerr & Co., the Hadley Co., E. Ashworth & Sons, and others at different times from 1850 to the present, who have made use of black and gold labels bearing nearly, though, it must be admitted, not quite as close, a resemblance to plaintiffs as do those of defendants. There was also evidence that as early as 1821 the thread of John Clark, Jr., or of J. & J. Clark, was imported into this country with labels in black and gold in concentric rings, with the makers' name upon them. Indeed, the testimony indicates that the black and gold labels have become so identified with this quality of thread by immemorial usage that it would be impossible to introduce or sell a new manufacture of such thread without making use of that character of label, and that a six-cord thread attempted to be put upon the market with a label of any other general color would be suspected of being a three-cord or basting cotton, and practically unsalable as six-cord. In fact, the defendants produced testimony tending to show that in two instances attempts have been made to put a six-cord thread upon the market without a black and gold label, but in one case at least the project had to be abandoned, and the manufacturer was obliged to return to the usual black and gold label. In addition to this, it appeared that the Merrick Thread Company began to make and put upon the market 200-yard sixcord thread in the early part of 1868, and made use of a black and gold label, bearing the name of the American Thread Company, which in 1877 was changed to the Merrick Thread Company, the word "American" being placed upon the other end of the spool to preserve the identity of the thread. Regarding it, then, as established that other manufacturers |