Trademark infringement; doh!

4 May 2009

Trademark infringement; doh!

By Jane Coyle

The maker of the VoVo biscuit, Arnotts has recently threatened legal action against doughnut chain Krispy Kreme if it does not stop promoting and selling it's similar sounding "Iced-Dough-Vo" doughnuts, which is also covered by pink fondant and sprinkled with coconut, just like the 100 year old Iced VoVo brand biscuit.

They believe that the Dough-Vo is too similar their Iced VoVo trade mark and is alleging breaches of the Trade Marks Act and Trade Practices Act. Arnott's also argues that the Iced Dough-Vo visually resembles the Iced VoVo biscuit and is phonetically identical.

It is reported that Krispy Kreme will not change the name of the Iced Dough-Vo doughnuts despite their accusations. The doughnut is apparently part of the Krispy Kreme Fair Dinkum Doughnuts promotion that aims to "pay homage to some Aussie household favourites".

It remains to be seen how the Court's will deal with this but in the mean time, sales have increased thanks to all the publicity. Even Prime Minister Kevin Rudd urged his election team to have a strong cup of tea with an Iced VoVo before going to work. This reportedly led to Arnotts sending a shipping palette of the biscuits to the Prime Minister's office in Canberra.

Jane Coyle is a trainee solicitor and can be contacted at jane.coyle@lawdit.co.uk