8 - And the award for the most bizarre lawsuit goes to…
It’s standard practice for companies defending lawsuits to describe them as ‘frivolous’ and ‘baseless’.
But as for plain bizarre, one case that caught our eye this year was a complaint filed by bestselling author and corporate ethics consultant Dov Seidman accusing Chobani of infringing his trademarks with its 'How Matters' campaign.
Seidman owns federal trademark registrations for the word and mark ‘HOW’ and claimed to have developed “common law rights in HOW and other HOW-based marks over a period of years”.
But Chobani - which noted that Seidman had not actually registered the ‘How Matters’ trademark - was nonplussed.
Said chief marketing and brand officer Peter McGuinness: “I’m a bit baffled by it all; if you can own ‘How’, you can own ‘The’. It is all a bit silly.”
Get the full details HERE.
