What's in a Name

They tell the story about New York Banker Otto Kahn. It seems he was being chauffeured to work one day when he spotted a tailor's shop displaying the proud sign MAX KAHN, COUSIN OF OTTO KAHN. Enraged, the financier stopped the car, roared into the store and ordered Non-Relative Max to take the sign down forthwith. "Yes, sir," said Max timidly. Next day, Kahn drove by again and was greeted with a new

Sign: MAX KAHN, FORMERLY COUSIN OF OTTO KAHN.

Max was obviously trying to crease a few extra pants on the strength of a name to which he had no right. What of the man whose name really is the same as that of someone more famous?

Is he entitled to use his own name for his business? The common-law right allows a man to use his own name as long as he does not use it to defraud the public. But a recent ruling in California suggests that the right may be dwindling. The owners of Tarantino's, a well-known restaurant on San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf, brought suit against Joseph Tarantino and his family, asking that they be enjoined from using their surname on the restaurant that they were operating near Lake Tahoe. A trial court found for Joe Tarantino and his family; there was no persuasive proof of intent to defraud the public.

The Third District Court of Appeals reversed the decision. Wrote Judge Fred R. Pierce: "Our reversal is upon the grounds that plaintiff's widely advertised name and well-known senior use of the name had given it a 'secondary' meaning and that junior use of even a family name will be enjoined when public deception inevitably results."

In show-business circles, that same rule has long been unofficially enforced. English Actor Jimmy Stewart chose to change his name to Stewart Granger because of a well-known American in the same trade. Now he would have to make the change as a matter of law. In fact, the names in question need not even be exactly the same. Similarity will suffice. Even so, the owner of the Chevron gas station on West Third Street in Los Angeles is not worried. Though he displays his name on a huge sign, Linden Johnson figures that the other fellow is too busy to sue.

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