The Lewis and Sons v. Mars candy bar case was a 1932 trademark infringement and unfair competition ruling in which Mars, Incorporated shut down a Malden, Massachusetts confectioner that had copied the Milky Way bar and sold it under the name “Constellation.” The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed a permanent injunction against Edgar P. Lewis & Sons, Inc. and upheld an award of profits and costs to Mars.1CaseMine. Edgar P. Lewis & Sons, Inc. v. Mars, Inc.
What Lewis and Sons Copied
Mars filed its complaint on October 27, 1930. At the time, the Milky Way trademark (U.S. Trademark Certificate No. 196,182) was tied to a candy bar generating roughly $30 million in annual sales.1CaseMine. Edgar P. Lewis & Sons, Inc. v. Mars, Inc. The complaint accused Edgar P. Lewis & Sons of doing more than borrowing a celestial-sounding name. According to Mars, the Constellation bar copied the Milky Way’s wrapper design, printing, size, general appearance, and even the texture of the candy inside. The pleading framed all of this as unfair competition, arguing that the product had been calculated to deceive shoppers into believing they were buying a Milky Way.2vLex. Edgar P. Lewis & Sons, Inc. v. Mars, Inc., 62 F.2d 406
Why the Case Was Decided Without a Trial
Lewis & Sons never filed a timely answer. On April 24, 1931, the District Court entered an interlocutory decree taking the bill pro confesso, meaning the court treated Mars’s factual allegations as admitted because the defendant had failed to contest them.1CaseMine. Edgar P. Lewis & Sons, Inc. v. Mars, Inc. That posture shaped everything that followed. The validity of the Milky Way trademark and the fact of infringement were established as a matter of law, and the remaining work was to figure out how much Lewis & Sons owed.
In June 1931 the court appointed a special master to calculate profits and assess damages. The accounting turned messy. The master found the defendant’s sworn financial statement “grossly inaccurate,” and Mars had to hire a certified accountant to audit the Lewis & Sons books before the numbers could be trusted.2vLex. Edgar P. Lewis & Sons, Inc. v. Mars, Inc., 62 F.2d 406 The master filed his report on December 31, 1931.
What the District Court Ordered
On April 29, 1932, the District Court overruled nearly every objection to the master’s report and entered a final decree. It held that Lewis & Sons had infringed the Milky Way trademark and engaged in unfair competition, and it permanently enjoined the company from manufacturing, selling, or advertising any candy bar that imitated the Milky Way.
The monetary award was modest but pointed: $228.48 in profits from Constellation sales, plus $1,003.65 in costs. Of those costs, $271 covered the accountant Mars had been forced to retain because the defendant’s own records were unreliable.1CaseMine. Edgar P. Lewis & Sons, Inc. v. Mars, Inc.
The First Circuit’s Ruling
Lewis & Sons appealed and raised 38 separate assignments of error. Circuit Judge George Weston Anderson wrote the opinion issued on December 17, 1932, and the appeals court rejected every one of them.2vLex. Edgar P. Lewis & Sons, Inc. v. Mars, Inc., 62 F.2d 406
On jurisdiction, the court found two independent grounds for federal court: diversity of citizenship, and the value of the injunction protecting a trademark tied to $30 million a year in sales, which easily cleared the required amount in controversy.1CaseMine. Edgar P. Lewis & Sons, Inc. v. Mars, Inc. On the merits, Judge Anderson explained that because the bill had been taken pro confesso, Mars’s allegations of a valid trademark and of infringement were conclusively established, and it did not matter whether Lewis & Sons sold Constellation bars in interstate or intrastate commerce. The court also upheld the $271 accountant’s fee as a proper cost, noting that Lewis & Sons had consented to the audit and that its own disclosures had been unreliable. The decree was affirmed in full, and appellate costs went to Mars.
Supreme Court Denial
Lewis & Sons petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari. The Court denied review in early 1933, with the denial reported at 288 U.S. 611.2vLex. Edgar P. Lewis & Sons, Inc. v. Mars, Inc., 62 F.2d 406 The First Circuit’s decision stood as the final word.
Why the Ruling Mattered
The case is an early example of a major food company using trademark law to stop a smaller competitor from selling a lookalike bar. The complaint and the resulting injunction treated the Milky Way’s protection as reaching beyond the name to the wrapper design, printing, size, general appearance, and texture of the candy itself. The pro confesso posture kept the court from developing that reasoning at length, but the breadth of the injunction, affirmed on appeal, showed how far trademark and unfair-competition doctrine could stretch to shield an established brand’s overall trade dress.