Book Reviews

• Author: Thomas A. Kain,Bert A. Collison
• DOI: 10.1177/0003603X7401900229
• Published date: 01 June 1974
• Date: 01 June 1974

BOOK

REVIEWS

489

George

J.

Alexander, Commercial

Torts,

Indianapolis: The

Allen Smith Company (1973),437 pp.,$10.00.

A single volumeof fewer than 500 pages which seeks to

cover thefield of commercial

torts

must necessarily be general

and concise. The

present

work is such but, nevertheless, ap-

pears

to fulfill the author's stated purposes of presenting

an

"overview" of the field and of being sufficiently basicto allow

one with no knowledgeofthefieldtoacquire a solid ground-

ing.

In

achieving these objectives the work diminishes

its

usefulness to practitioners who, more or less, specialize

in

the field.

The chapter on trademarks and

trade

names sets out the

basic conceptsof thesubject andgives the intended overview.

It

would be helpful if

future

supplements

list

the marks and

goods involved in cited cases.

In

dealing with product simulation cases the general princi-

ples

and

policy considerations

are

adequately set forth, as is

the impact of the

Sears

and Compco cases,

but

the section

would be improved by a discussion of thecaselawsubsequent

to these decisions.

Alimitation of thework, which isoccasioned by

its

brevity,

is

that

it

does not amplify certain troublesome basic concepts

and

it

cannot adequately set out the subtleties of themore

complex questions.

For

example, one having little or no

knowledge of

trade

secrets could be confused by thestate-

ments regarding the significanceof "novelty" in

trade

secret

protection, as discussed

at

pages

208-09.

This chapter also

includes a sectionoddly entitled "Copyright of

Ideas"

which

might

better

have been presented,

and

more fully, in a sepa-

rate

chapter.

The chapter on misrepresentation does not discuss

any

au-

thority on the question of geographical misdescriptiveness

subsequent to California

Apparel

Creators v. Wieder

of

Cali-

fornia, Inc., 162

F.

2d 893 (2dCir.1947).Oneassumes

that

the more recent cases will be included in the pocket supple-

ment. This chapter also deals with the

early

cases constru-