Inwood Laboratories, Inc. v. Ives Laboratories, Inc.

Ives Laboratories, Inc. (plaintiff) sold the drug cyclandelate under the trademark Cyclospasmol in distinctive dose-and-color capsule combinations, and after its patent expired, Inwood Laboratories and other generic manufacturers (defendants) sold cyclandelate in capsules mimicking those same doses and colors, supplied in accurately labeled bulk containers even though the capsules themselves bore no source markings. Ives alleged pharmacists were illegally passing off the generic capsules as Cyclospasmol and that the generic manufacturers had induced this by copying the color scheme, and sued for vicarious trademark infringement; the district court found no inducement, but the court of appeals reversed and found the generic manufacturers liable based on its own reading of the evidence.