"Maizo" and "Maizena" Trade Marks.

Progress, Volume I, Issue 7, 1 May 1906, Page 182

" Maizo " and " Maizena " Trade Marks.

Messrs. Robert Harper & Co., Prop. Ltd., of Melbourne some time since applied to register in Victoria m respect of an article of food made from maize or Indian corn a trade mark consisting of a label of distinctive design upon which the word " Maizo " appeared The application was opposed by the National Starch Company, of New York, the registered proprietors in Victoria in respect of the same goods, of two trade marks, one No. 2247, consisting; of the word " Maizena " and the other No. 2248, consisting of the word " Maizena " in combination with a cornfield scene, upon the grounds that the label bearing the word " Maizo " had such a resemblance to its two registered trade marks as to be calculated to deceive, and that the word " Maizo " both in appearance and sound had such a resemblance to the word " Maizena " as to be calculated to deceive. The Commissioner of Trade-Marks upheld the objections

of the National Starch Company and refused registration. Mr. Isaacs, K.C., and Mr. Cussen, instructed by Mr. Walter S. Bayston, Patent and Trade Marks Attorney, appeared for the applicants, and Mr. Irvine, instructed by Messrs. Edward Waters & Sons, Patent and Trade Marks Attorneys, for the objectors. Subsequently Messrs. Robert Harper & Co. Prop. Ltd. appealed to the Full Court of Victoria, against the decision of the Commissioner, and also applied to rectify the register of trade marks by expunging therefrom the two trade marks of the National Starch Co. upon the ground that the word " Maizena " at the time of registration of the said two trade marks, 2247 and 2248, was an ordinary English word m common use, denoted some substance manufactured from maize, and was merely a descriptive word. The result of the appeal and the action was that the Court reversed the decision of the Commissioner, and ordered the registration of Messrs. Harper's mark and also the removal from the Register of the National Starch Co.'s two trade marks. Mr. Isaacs, XC, and Mr. Cussen, instructed by Messis. Braham & Pirani, appeared for Robert Harper & Co. and Mr. Irvine and Mr. Starke, instructed by Messrs. Waters & Crespm, for the National Starch Company.