its texture coating. By dint of a vigorous marketing and advertising campaign and, no
doubt, also because it was a good product,
appellant established a substantial market for Micatex
58
and consequently considerable goodwill attached to the trade mark. Until respondent
commenced using the marks Micadek and, later, Mikacote, no other paint manufacturer
had used the word "mica", either by itself or in combination, as a trade mark for his
goods.
It is true that mica is, by percentage of weight, a minor ingredient of both appellant's and
respondent's products, and the products of other manufacturers as well. Had respondent
genuinely wished by means of some description to draw the attention of the purchasing
public to the fact that its product contained mica, there are several obvious ways in which
it could have done so without in any way infringing
59
appellant's trade mark. Yet respondent chose to do so by incorporating the word "mica"
(spelt "mika") in a trade mark which bore a deceptive resemblance to appellant's trade
mark.
Mikacote is not a word in ordinary use. It is a fancy name, and the way in which it was
composed would not necessarily be apparent to an uninitiated person reading the word on
the label attached to the tin containing respondent's texture coating. There would be no
reason for him to think that it was a word descriptive of the character or quality of the
paint in the container. A person who genuinely wished to communicate to the reader that
his paint contained
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