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25 April 2014Trademarks

Mars and Hershey in Maltesers trademark row

Confectionery group Mars has filed a lawsuit against Hershey accusing the US company of passing off its Maltesers brand of chocolate.

Mars has taken issue with Hershey’s own brand of “knock-off” chocolate, called Malteser.

Both products are round balls of chocolate with a malt honeycomb centre but the Hershey brand does not include the ‘s’ at the end of the word.

Hershey sells its product in red packaging and has owned the trademark ‘Malteser’ since 1998.

Mars has sold the brand for 75 years and in red packaging since 1978.

Mars, which also owns brands including Minstrels and the Mars bar, claims Hershey is trying to prevent it from selling Maltesers in the US in competition with Hershey.

Hershey acquired the Malteser trademark from Huhtamaki Finance B.V., a Dutch company, in 1998.

Filed at the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the lawsuit says since acquiring the trademark Hershey has made “only bad faith” use of it.

“By its recent copying, Hershey has tricked consumers in the US into buying fake Malteser candy instead of Mars’ Maltesers candy,” the court document said.

Additionally, Mars said Hershey did not design its own packaging for the chocolate, but instead helped itself to Mars’ well-known Maltesers packaging, copying the “distinctive, all-red” colour scheme.

Jeff Beckman, director of corporate communications at Hershey, said it would “vigorously defend” itself against the “groundless litigation”.

“This lawsuit is without merit. The Hershey company has owned the Malteser trademark in the US for more than 15 years,” Beckman told ConfectioneryNews.

Mars is seeking a permanent injunction against Hershey’s use of the Malteser mark, plus unspecified damages for lost profits.

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