69
Old Crow
In 1918 W. A. Gaines & Company brought a trademark violation suit against
Rock Spring Distilling Company before the Circuit Court. They stated that the
Gaines Company used the name Old Crow to
“
designate a brand of straight rye
or straight bourbon whisky manufactured by that company.
”
The Gaines
Company operated a distillery in Woodford County, Kentucky called
“
Old Crow
Distillery.
”
Silas Rosenfield was operating the Rock Spring
‟
s Distillery in
Daviess County, Kentucky. The claim was made that Rock
Springs
“…in fraud of the Gaines Company‟
s rights and in
infringement of its trade-mark, made or caused to be made and
sold or caused to be sold in Kentucky a certain spurious
straight bourbon whisky…and branded the same with the
words
„
Celebrated Old Crow Whisky Bottled in Bond.
‟”
They argued
“… in 1835 James Crow invented and formulated
a novel process for the production of whisky which he did not
patent or seek to patent but kept for his own use until his death
in 1855.
”
When Crow died he passed his secret process to William F. Mitchell who, in
1867, started the Gaines, Berry Co. partnership, the predecessor to W. A. Gaines
& Co. The court conceded that when the name
“
Old Crow
”
was applied by
James Crow it was a valid trademark and
“
since its adoption it has always been
applied to the whisky produced by the indicated secret process, and since that
