 "Kraft Foods gets relief from IPAB")
In a relief to US-based Kraft Foods Group, the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) has ordered the trademark registrar to remove the trademark Mello Jello, owned by a Mumbai-based firm.
Kraft owns Jell-O, a dessert brand valued over $100 million. It had filed a rectification application with the IPAB to remove the trademark from the Trade Mark Registry.
According to information available with the trademark registry, Manohar Sharma, trading as Frostee Ice Cream, had filed an application for the trademark Mello Jello for its ice cream, in Class 30 of the TradeMark Classification, in February 2009. The registration certificate was issued on March, 2011.
Class 30 in the classification includes food items including ice creams, confectioneries and bakery items.
When the matter came up for hearing recently, the Board observed that the owner of trademark has taken a specific stand "to the effect they are withdrawing the impugned trademark".
"In view of the above said circumstances, and the above said categorical statement of the respondent which we have incorporated earlier, we are directing the Registrar of trademark, Mumbai to remove or delete the impugned trademark," said Justice K N Basha.
The Jell-O brand includes multiple offerings of gelatin, pudding and no-bake desserts, which come in a range of dessert mixes, and ready-to-eat snacks in original, sugar-free and fat-free varieties. The company claims that it has introduced Jell-O pudding, which currently comes in a wide array of flavors and varieties, in 1936.