Unilever settles Ben & Jerry’s dispute
Dismissal of case resolves a clash between Unilever and its wholly-owned subsidiary | Ice cream maker formerly accused Unilever of “covertly” causing the transfer of its trademarks.
Consumer goods multinational Unilever has settled a trademark dispute with its subsidiary Ben & Jerry’s.
In an announcement shared yesterday, December 15, UK-based Unilever said it was pleased that the litigation with Ben & Jerry's independent board had been resolved.
A filing relating to the suit being dismissed was submitted to the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The resolution follows on from a motion filed in early December by Unilever’s subsidiary Conopco, a project management services company, in a bid to dismiss Ben & Jerry’s amended complaint.
Prior to that, in late September, the ice cream brand filed an updated lawsuit in its clash with Conopco, alleging that it had only discovered the trademark transfer from recent court filings in the litigation.
In 2021, Vermont-based Ben & Jerry’s announced that it would stop selling its products in the West Bank, because the region was inconsistent with its values.
Unilever launched a review of the Israeli business in response to the statement. This ultimately led to Unilever’s decision to sell the business to Avi Zinger, the owner of Ben & Jerry’s current licensee for the region.
In July this year, Ben & Jerry’s sued Conopco in a bid to block the sale of its business in Israel and the West Bank to Zinger, but the bid was rejected.
Ben and Jerry’s then filed an updated lawsuit claiming that, as part of a licensing agreement signed between Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever, the ice cream maker would retain ownership of its trademarks post-merger, allowing its independent board to serve as the “custodian” of the brand going forward.
However, “mere months” after Ben & Jerry’s was acquired by Unilever in 2000, the conglomerate caused the transfer of Ben & Jerry’s trademarks to Unilever NV, said the suit. Unilever was also added as a defendant to the litigation.
Correction: this article has been updated since publication to amend an error, in which we incorrectly stated that the dispute between Uniliver and Ben & Jerry's had begun more than 20 years ago. This has now been amended to reflect the fact that the acquisition and trademark transfer occurred more than 20 years ago, not the dispute.
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