Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
September,  1920.  ) 
Editorial. 
615 
right  to  make  and  sell  under  the  name  "Castoria,"  then  the  American 
Druggists'  Syndicate  in  going  into  competition  with  the  Centaur 
Company  is  acting  within  its  rights,  unless  they  are  deceiving  the 
public  by  imitating  the  packages  of  the  Centaur  Company.  The 
correctness  of  the  above  statement  is  recognized  by  Standard 
Remedies,  for  Dec,  191 5  (Standard  Remedies  is  published  in  the 
interest  of  the  manufacturers  and  jobbers  of  proprietary  medicines, 
cosmetics,  etc.). 
In  referring  to  the  dangers  attending  the  Goldwater  Ordinance, 
the  editor  warns  manufacturers  to  be  careful  not  to  jeopardize  their 
trade-mark  rights,  by  complying  with  the  requirements  of  the  New 
York  health  board  until  they  are  compelled  to  do  so,  if  they  ever  are, 
by  the  decision  of  the  Courts  of  last  resort. 
In  support  of  this  warning  the  editor  quotes  the  following  para- 
graphs from  Cyc.  38-740: 
"The  name  of  a  secret  or  proprietary  preparation  is  descriptive 
thereof,  and  hence  is  not  a  valid  trade-mark.  Anyone  who  dis- 
covers the  secret  and  makes  the  goods  according  to  the  formula  may 
use  the  name  to  describe  the  goods.  A  contrary  view  has  been 
expressed,  and  such  names  declared  to  be  valid  trade-marks,  but 
such  cases  must  be  deemed  instances  of  the  broader  doctrine  of  un- 
fair competition.  Of  course  the  name  may  not  be  used  to  pass  off 
spurious  concoctions  as  and  for  the  genuine  preparations." 
To  again  quote  from  Cyc.  38-835 : 
"The  name  of  a  secret  and  proprietary  preparation  will  be  pro- 
tected against  unauthorized  use  or  imitation  as  the  name  of  some 
other  different  preparation  of  like  kind  sold  in  competition,  but  not 
made  in  accordance  with  the  formula  of  the  original  and  genuine 
article,  even  though  the  labels  and  wrappers  ar^  entirely  different, 
because  such  a  use  is  necessarily  false  and  deceptive. 
"But  such  names  are  generally  descriptive  and  therefore  may 
be  used  by  anyone  who  discovers  and  knows  the  secret  of  the  com- 
position of  the  article  and  makes  his  own  article  according  to  the 
original  formula.  If  vSuch  is  the  truth  a  subsequent  user  of  the  same 
must  add  some  distinguishing  statement  showing  that  the  article 
is  his  own  production  of  the  article  known  by  that  name  and  he  must 
not  imitate  the  dress  or  the  makeup  of  the  goods  in  addition  to  using 
the  name,  or  do  any  affirmative  act  calculated  to  deceive  the  public 
and  pass  off  the  goods  as  and  for  the  previously  known  goods." 
