International Order of Job's Daughters v. Lindeburg & Co.
United States Court of Appeals for Ninth Circuit
633 F.2d 912 (1980)
The International Order of Job's Daughters (Job's Daughters) (plaintiff), a young women's fraternal organization, had used an unregistered emblem as a collective mark since 1921, authorizing only one jeweler to produce official jewelry with it, even as many unauthorized retailers also sold emblem jewelry. Lindeburg & Co. (defendant), one such unauthorized jeweler, asked to become the official jeweler in 1957; Job's Daughters declined, and Lindeburg kept selling emblem jewelry anyway. In 1975, Job's Daughters sued for common-law trademark infringement, relying exclusively on federal trademark case law in its briefing without explicitly invoking the Lanham Act. The trial court, applying federal law, ruled for Job's Daughters, and Lindeburg appealed.
Whether a mark with functional aesthetic value is protectable as a trademark if an ordinary consumer would understand the mark to designate product origin.