Edward Douglass White

“ When the Pocahontas Coal Company ceased to act as the general coal agent, on the appointment of a receiver of the Norfolk & Western Railroad, the complainants, who now assert the exclusive right in themselves to the name 'Pocahontas,' became the principal agent for the sale of the coal from some of the mines, among the number one of the mines controlled by the defendants, putting the product of that mine upon the market, as agent of the owner, as Pocahontas coal. ”

“ There is no evidence whatever in the record tending to show any express license to complainants or their predecessors from the Southwest Virginia Improvement Company authorizing them to use the name 'Pocahontas' as an exclusive tradename or trademark for coal; and the facts which we have above stated render it absolutely impossible that there should have been any such valid license. It is patent that the word 'Pocahontas,' prior to the formation of the coal producers' combination on January 1, 1885, indicated all the coal coming from a particular seam of coal known as the Pocahontas vei. ”

“ In inspecting and grading the coal, complainants and their predecessors were but agents of the mine owners. Certainly, the agent cannot be heard to say that he may appropriate to himself the name belonging to the product of his principal, or that he may affix the name to coal for his own purposes, and not for the benefit and advantage of his principal. ”