{"id":77,"date":"2015-12-30T10:10:53","date_gmt":"2015-12-30T15:10:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/?p=77"},"modified":"2015-12-30T16:57:03","modified_gmt":"2015-12-30T21:57:03","slug":"thats-the-way-the-cookie-crumbles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/?p=77","title":{"rendered":"That’s the Way the Cookie Crumbles"},"content":{"rendered":"

On December 2, 2016, Pepperidge Farm sued Trader Joe’s for infringement and dilution of the “famous and unique Milano\u00ae cookie configuration trademark.\u00a0 Civil Action 3:15-cv-0174-AWT<\/a> in the District of Connecticut.\u00a0 While the jury is still out on whether or not a\u00a0typical cookie-munching consumer can tell the difference between \u00a0Milanos and Crispy Cookies:<\/p>\n

\"cookies2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The lesson to be learned from this cookie clash is Pepperidge Farms’ foresight in getting a federal trademark registration on the Milano\u00ae cookie configuration:<\/p>\n

\"3852499\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The registration is “prima facie evidence of the validity of the registered mark and of the registration of the mark, of the registrant\u2019s ownership of the mark, and of the registrant\u2019s exclusive right to use the registered mark in commerce.” \u00a015 USC \u00a71115(a).\u00a0 It is far easier and less expensive to establish rights in a trade dress ex parte<\/em> before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, than in a contested proceeding in a district court.<\/p>\n

While Pepperidge Farms may not have the same success it had against Nabisco back in the 1990’s when it\u00a0asserted\u00a0rights in the shape of its\u00a0Goldfish\u00ae crackers (Nabisco, Inc. v. PF Brands, Inc.<\/em>, 191 F.3d 208, 51 U.S.P.Q.2d 1882 (2nd Cir. 1999)),\u00a0having the registration on\u00a0the\u00a0Milano\u00ae \u00a0trade dress gives it a big advantage\u00a0in its current\u00a0contest with Trader Joe’s, saving it from having to establish ownership of the trade dress, and allowing it to focus on proving infringement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On December 2, 2016, Pepperidge Farm sued Trader Joe’s for infringement and dilution of the “famous and unique Milano\u00ae cookie configuration trademark.\u00a0 Civil Action 3:15-cv-0174-AWT in the District of Connecticut.\u00a0 While the jury is still out on whether or not … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-traditional-trademarks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=77"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82,"href":"https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77\/revisions\/82"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=77"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=77"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trademarks.harnessip.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=77"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}