Ice cream wars: Mister Softee imposter threatened with arrest

The owner of a fleet of ‘Master Softee’ ice cream trucks in New York City has been served another contempt order in his trademark infringement case against Mister Softee, according to Law360.

The report said that a New York judge threatened Master Softee operator Dimitrios Tsirkos with arrest unless he disclosed the buyers of his trucks.

In March, Mister Softee sued Tsirkos at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York for infringing Mister Softee trademarks and trade dress with his line of trucks, in order to “protect the goodwill” associated with them.

The complaint also accused the imposter trucks of using the trademarked Mister Softee jingle without permission.

Mister Softee said that Tsirkos, by infringing Mister Softee’s trademarks, is unfairly competing with Mister Softee’s franchisees, which paid and continue to pay royalty fees for the right to use its trademarks.

The Mister Softee business has been in operation since 1956. Its trucks are white with a blue trim and wheels. They feature ‘Mister Softee’ in a red cursive print, and an ice cream cone cartoon character with smiley face and bow tie.

Mister Softee owns various trademarks and trade dress comprising the distinctive look of the Mister Softee ice cream truck.

In the March complaint, Mister Softee asked for a permanent injunction stopping Tsirkos from using the Mister Softee marks, punitive damages, and an order to destroy all labels, signs, prints or packages that bear the infringing trademarks.

It also asked for an order for Tsirkos to assign the domain name www.mistersofteenyc.com to Mister Softee Inc.

According to Law360, in July, a New York judge handed Tsirkos a contempt order after finding that he had flouted the injunction order.

Mister Softee could not be reached for comment.