Dive Brief:
- Mars and Hershey reached a settlement “amicably” — a word used by spokespeople from both companies — out of court as the two confections companies dropped their lawsuits against each other, as reported by Just-Food.
- Mars sued Hershey over competing brands, Hershey’s Malteser (single) vs. Mars’ Maltesers. Mars said the two brands were confoundingly alike, and Hershey had breached Mars’ trademark, which it acquired 30 years before Malteser (singular) came to pass.
- In the lawsuit it filed spring of last year, Mars accused Hershey of selling a “fake” Malteser confectionery as a way to boost its Whoppers brand while getting rid of Maltesers, its malt chocolate competitor, Just-Food reported.
Dive Insight:
This isn’t the only trademark dispute Hershey was involved in this year. Hershey dropped another lawsuit in January when it was decided that Let’s Buy British Imports could no longer import Cadbury’s chocolates and a few other brands to the U.S. Hershey argued it was the only rightful seller of those chocolates in the U.S., some of which had packaging similar to other Hershey brands.
Speaking of lawsuits, Pepsi faced a proposed class action lawsuit that alleged 4-Mel, a color additive Pepsi uses in its diet sodas, may cause cancer. The lawsuit requested that Pepsi “pay long-term health-monitoring costs for soda drinkers,” according to Reuters. A California federal judge dismissed the suit.