Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has granted Princeton Vanguard, a division of Snyder's-Lance, an appeal over its trademark of Pretzel Crisps.
- PepsiCo, Inc. and its brand Frito-Lay had challenged the trademark, and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board had sided with PepsiCo, ruling that the Pretzels Crisps' name was a compound term instead of a phrase, which meant Princeton Vanguard could not trademark a generic term.
- PepsiCo did not comment on the matter, while Princeton Vanguard simply said that it agreed and was pleased with the court's decision.
Dive Insight:
Earlier this year, the food industry saw a few more big-name trademark disputes. In March, The Hershey Company and Mars, Inc. reached a settlement and dropped their lawsuits against each other over Hershey’s Malteser (single) vs. Mars’ Maltesers.
Hershey was involved in another dispute with Let's Buy British Imports, which was importing Cadbury's chocolate and a few other overseas brands, though Hershey said only it had the right to sell those brands in the U.S. Trademarks disputes can be intense in the food industry with lawsuits and appeals flying every which way.