Kellogg Co. v. National Biscuit Co.

litigants	Kellogg Co. v. National Biscuit Co.
arguedate	October 10
argueyear	1938
decidedate	November 14
decideyear	1938
fullname	Kellogg Co. v. National Biscuit Co.
usvol	305
uspage	111
parallelcitations	59 S. Ct. 109; 83 L. Ed. 73; 1938 U.S. LEXIS 1137
prior	Case dismissed in favor of defendant, Delaware district court, 1935; dismissal upheld, Circuit Court of Appeals, 1936; upon rehearing, dismissal vacated and mandate sent to district court, Circuit Court of Appeals, 1936; certiorari denied, U.S. Supreme Court (302 U.S. 733, 58 S.Ct. 120); injunction entered per mandate in favor of plaintiff, 1938, Delaware district court; mandate "clarified", Circuit Court of Appeals, 1938; certiorari granted, U.S. Supreme Court, 304 U.S. 586, 58 S.Ct. 1052.
holding	After a patent expires or becomes invalid, the patent holder cannot use unfair competition law to prevent a rival from selling goods of the same shape under the same (non-trademarked) name.
majority	Brandeis
joinmajority	Hughes, Stone, Roberts, Black, Reed
dissent	McReynolds
joindissent	Butler

Kellogg Co. v. National Biscuit Co., 305 U.S. 111 (1938), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that the Kellogg Company was not violating any trademark or unfair competition laws when it manufactured its own Shredded Wheat breakfast cereal, which had originally been invented by the National Biscuit Company (later called Nabisco). Kellogg's version of the product was of an essentially identical shape, and was also marketed as "Shredded Wheat"; but Nabisco's patents had expired, and its trademark application for the term "Shredded Wheat" had been turned down as a descriptive, non-trademarkable term.

The Court therefore "forcefully applied the principle that once a patent has expired, its benefits are to be freely enjoyed by the public."[1] Kellogg has been called possibly "the Supreme Court's most versatile and influential trademark decision."[2] It had a direct impact on the structure of the Lanham Act and is a "routine starting point for analysis in trademark opinions in lower courts."[2]

Kellogg Co. v. National Biscuit Co.

Background

Opinion of the Court

Subsequent developments

See also

External links

References