Webb's City, Incorporated v. Bell Bakeries, Inc.

TUTTLE, Circuit Judge.

This appeal presents the question of whether, under Florida law, one whose unregistered trade name has acquired a distinctive meaning in the minds of the buying public is entitled to the exclusive use of that name, or whether he has a cause of action only where a competitor so names, packages, or promotes his own product as to create a substantial likelihood of confusion between the two products in the mind of the ordinary purchaser.

For fourteen years prior to the bringing of this action, Webb’s City, Inc., a large department store in St. Petersburg, Florida, sold its…