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10 November 2016Trademarks

Sweet and sour: Dunkin’ Donuts sued for trademark infringement

US company Heartland Consumer Products has targeted Dunkin’ Donuts and its owner Dunkin’ Brands in a trademark infringement suit based on Splenda, a sweetener.

In 2015, Heartland, a low calorie sweetener products manufacturer, acquired the Splenda brand from a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson Consumer.

Now, Heartland has alleged that Dunkin’ Donuts is deceiving customers into believing that its restaurants sell Splenda while providing customers with sweeteners “for which the active ingredients are a product of China”.

In a suit, filed on Monday, November 7 at the US District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division, Heartland claimed that the sale of these sweeteners its “damaging the hard-earned reputation” of the company.

Heartland has also claimed trade dress infringement, dilution and unfair competition.

It added that the actions of Dunkin’ Donuts were “whittling away at the value of its [Heartland’s] trademark by using it to identify non-Splenda sucralose-based sweeteners”.

Heartland claimed that it has trademark registrations for ‘Splenda’ in more than 90 countries.

“Retail employees of Dunkin’ Donuts outlets have misrepresented to consumers that the product being provided to the consumer is Splenda-brand sweetener when this is not true,” said the suit.

“Even in the face of responses from consumers that the packet does not look like a Splenda brand packet, such consumers are insistently told that such product is Splenda-brand sweetener when it is not,” the suit added.

According to the claim, the distribution subsidiary of Dunkin’ Donuts has been purchasing Splenda since at least 2005.

In 2014, the subsidiary entered into an agreement with Heartland’s predecessor for the procurement of the sweeteners for use in Dunkin’ Donuts stores.

But in April this year, Dunkin’ Donuts ended the relationship and began purchasing non-Splenda sweetener.

Heartland is seeking injunctive relief, damages including punitive and triple damages, and a jury trial.

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