Posts Tagged ‘ Ben & Jerry’s ’

Ben & Jerry’s Lawsuit: Ice Cream & Porn Don’t Mix

September 7th, 2012. By AbiK

Pickles & ice cream? Maybe if you’re pregnant. Pickles & porn? Let’s hope not. Ben & Jerry’s & porn? Hell no says a recent trademark lawsuit filed by Ben & Jerry’s against porn film companies Rodax Distributors and Caballero Video of California.

Seems while Ben & Jerry’s has in the past churned up flavors such as Schweddy Balls and Karamel Sutra, it’s one thing to create a scoop or two of innuendo and brand it. It’s completely another to create porn that piggybacks on the same—or very similar—names.

What names you ask? Well, for starters, the porno flicks are distributed as “Ben & Cherry’s”. Each episode has a Ben & Jerryesque kind of name—here’s a few: Boston Cream Thigh, New York Fat & Chunky, Peanut Butter D-Cup.

But what catches your, uh, eye isn’t just the names—take a look at one of the Ben & Cherry’s DVD cases above. Looks familiar, no? That’s a pic of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream over on the right.

Is it any wonder Ben & Jerry’s sued for trademark infringement?

For now, a federal judge in Manhattan has ordered a block on Rodax Distributors and Caballero Video from producing and marketing its Ben & Cherry’s videos. According to an LA Times report today, the judge’s ruling requires the porn distributor to ” stop offering the 10 titles in its Ben & Cherry’s series in the interim and remove all online mention of the X-rated products”.

The company has to change its packaging, too. Surprise, surprise.

Tags: Ben & Cherry's, Ben & Jerry's, Caballero Video, Ice Cream, Porn Lawsuit, Rodax Distributors, Trademark Infringement
Posted in Intellectual Property, lawsuits | No Comments »

Ben & Jerry’s Agrees to Lose “All Natural” Claim; On to FRS…

September 30th, 2010. By LucyC

Those bastions of all that is good about ice cream—Ben & Jerry’s—had their wrists slapped recently over the inappropriate use of the phrase “All Natural”. And they, unlike some other companies I will mention, had the good sense to do something about the false claim. 

Apparently, there are about 48 of Ben & Jerry’s products that aren’t ‘All Natural’, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a nutrition and food safety watchdog group based in Washington, DC.  

In case you’re wondering just what the heck constitutes ‘natural’, information on the CSPI website states that “The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which regulates meat and poultry, lets products be labeled “natural” if they do not include artificial colors or ingredients, or are not more than “minimally processed,” by which the agency means a process that doesn’t fundamentally alter the raw ingredient. But the FDA, which regulates all other foods, has no such definition. It told CSPI several years ago that defining the term was “not among our enforcement priorities.” 

Of course the irony in this is that the sugar and cream in ice cream will likely cause more harm to your arteries—not to mention your teeth—than most of the “unnatural products” in Ben & Jerry’s ice creams and frozen yogurts, products including alkalized cocoa, corn syrup, and partially hydrogenated soybean oil. 

Nevertheless, Ben and Jerry’s, not wishing to tarnish their best of the best image, have agreed to phase out the use of “All Natural” claims on their labels. 

Oh, that all manufacturers were so obliging. Not so in the instance of FRS Healthy Energy Drink, a line of products sold by the FRS Company and distributed by PepsiCo. The product Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Ben & Jerry's, Coca-Cola, Coke, false advertising, FRS Energy Drink, VitaminWater
Posted in Consumer Fraud, Emerging Issues | No Comments »