The OU Kashrus Organization has filed a lawsuit against a Baltimore-based spice company for trademark infringement, alleging that the company used the OU’s certification logo on its products without permission.
“Consumers are clearly going to be misled as to whether the OU certified the product, and it may well be that the product is not kosher; we don’t know,” said David Butler of Washington, D.C.’s Bingham McCutchen LLP, who filed the complaint on behalf of the Orthodox Union.
The complaint alleges that the OU mark appeared on at least four Wilder products and that Wilder forged a “letter of certification” saying that the Orthodox Union had certified its products, allowing it to use the symbol.
“The whole thing is a huge misunderstanding,” said Danny Christofano, executive vice president of Wilder.
He said the company’s raw materials are certified kosher, most of them by the Orthodox Union, and that some of Wilder’s own products are certified by a smaller supervision agency, EarthKosher. Wilder put the OU symbol on some of its products by mistake because it did not understand “that we had to have permission” from the Orthodox Union to use the mark even if its suppliers’ products are kosher, Christofano said.
He said that after the Orthodox Union contacted Wilder about the problem, the company asked if the certification agency would agree to inspect its facilities and certify its products as kosher, but “they refused us.”
Wilder is no longer sending out spices that contain the OU mark, Christofano said.
The Orthodox Union alleges federal trademark infringement and dilution of a famous mark, among other claims. It seeks an injunction forbidding Wilder from using the OU symbol and requiring it to remove any products containing the symbol from the marketplace. It also seeks actual and punitive damages to be determined at trial.
(Source: MD Daily Record)
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11 Responses
I wonder how christofano would react if someone were to lable their product with his wilder brand
after all only a misunderstanding !!!!
go get em ou
i live in Baltimore and that saddens me
chalebeebe – What is it that bothers you? That you live in Boltimore? Or the story above
I would heavily think about moving out of Baltimore after this shocking story hit.
Probably the fact he lives in B’more!
Go OU!!
Don’t worry chalebeebe I’m sure e/t will be ok
There is no misunderstanding, the OU quite clearly tells it’s customers that they cannot put the OU symbol on anything other than what is on the certificate. If they have done otherwise, and the OU is going after them then , then there have been other problems in the past with them too.
This is a global problem with ALL mass Kashrus certification. The O-U and other certifying orgnizations do not own the labels. They depend on the companies to be honest. Only after there has been a long-standing and well-publicised violation, can the certifying agency do something. It’s not an ideal situation.
What’s all this about Baltimore? The fact that it happened in Baltimore has nothing to do with anything. Chaebeebe, there are a lot of great things happening in Baltimore so please don’t let that sadden you. On a different note, good job OU!
Baltimore is a great frum city!
Modcha, great line!
>>“The whole thing is a huge misunderstanding,” said Danny Christofano, executive vice president of Wilder.