CORPORATIONS: Plumb v. Plomb

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Almost every handyman-around-the-house knows "Plumb" hammers and hatchets. Philadelphia's venerable Fayette R. Plumb, Inc. has been making fine tools since the 1880's, and is proud—and jealous—of its trademark. Not so well known is Los Angeles' Plomb Tool Co. (named after Alphonse Plomb, one of three founders), a much younger firm (founded in 1907). When Plomb applied in 1926 to make its name a trademark, Plumb promptly squawked in court. The result was a deal in which Plomb agreed not to use its name on anything that resembled the famed Plumb Tools.

But Plomb did not keep its word, and, after several suits, Plumb finally pinned Plomb down in March 1947. A U.S. district court gave the western company a year within which to stop using and advertising its name as a trademark.

Again Plomb of Los Angeles did not comply: its President Morris Pendleton argued that the two businesses did not really overlap very much at all, and went blithely on, doing business as usual. Last week the court cracked down hard. It ordered Plomb of Los Angeles to: 1) fulfill last year's order at once, and 2) pay Plumb of Philadelphia all the profits it had made since March 1948 on sales of tools marked "Plomb."

To comply, Plomb had to close down. Frantically appealing from the decision this week, the company estimated that it would take at least four months, and cost around $1,000,000, to change over to a new trademark. In that time, said Plomb, its markets and most of its skilled help would be gone. In addition, the company estimated that it would have to pay $500,000 in profits to Plumb and $40,000 in costs, a loss that would be sorely felt. It looked as if tool buyers might never again be confused over Plomb & Plumb.