Kraft Threatens Cooking Teacher With Trademark Claim For Teaching Students To Cook Beyond Kraft Mac & Cheese
from the morons-in-a-hurry dept
I haven't had Kraft Mac & Cheese since I was a kid, and had no idea it went under different names in different countries. Apparently, up in Canada, it's called the Kraft Dinner or KD for short, where it's apparently even more iconic than in the US (where it's still pretty iconic). Either way, Kraft is upset. That's because a cooking instructor in Calgary, who had set up a free cooking class for students called "Kick the KD," is apparently violating its trademarks (via Rob Hyndman) -- and, yes, the company trademarked "KD." I don't know how different trademark law in Canada is compared to the US, but this seems like a pretty specious claim. First of all, there's no use in commerce. It's a free cooking-class put on by a non-profit. Second, there's no likelihood of confusion going on here, because it's not like anyone hearing about the Kick the KD is going to think it's associated with or sponsored by Kraft when the whole point is to get people to think about actually cooking their meals, rather than just breaking out a box of "KD" (I'm picking up the lingo). Now, of course, you can understand why it might upset Kraft that there's a class being taught to students about how to cook beyond the near instant simplicity of its Mac & Cheese, but that doesn't make it a trademark violation. Still, the class's instructor doesn't want to fight Kraft, so he's changing the name. Trademark bullies chalk up another win.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: canada, cooking, kd, mac & cheese, trademark
Companies: kraft
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
I can't say that's what Kraft does, but we have seen others, so I wouldn't be surprised if they did.
Now I want macaroni and cheese, light on the milk and butter with tuna. I only have access to the real stuff right now, and while good, not what I want.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
That's exactly what they are doing.
Instead of oh I don't know, actually working on product they would rather spend their money looking for people they can either bully for money or bully into oblivion.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Anonymous Coward'
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Scouring the Newspaper, TV & Internet
For 8 hours straight, I was listening, to 2 radio stations (one French and one English) as watch one or two TVs. During the night, two guys were coming it to do the same on the magazines and the newspaper. I'm glad I'm not doing this anymore.
For the internet, you have some alert services like Google to help you manage your PR on the internet.
Take care.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Retitling the class
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: #4 Retitling the class
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Retitling the class
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Retitling the class
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
This lawsuit is the cheesiest!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Retitling the class
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Pro Tip
Cheap chili mac FTW!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Pro Tip
All kinds of great ways to enjoy your mac & "cheese" ;)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Pro Tip
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Pro Tip
A packet of leftover mustard sauce from Chinese takeaway really spices up some split-pea soup.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ahh Kraft
Kraft is just pissed off that someone's trying to get kids to move beyond the nastiness that is powdered cheese sauce.
The instructor could just say KD stands for Kitchen Doldrums or something, and tell Kraft to just go away.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Ahh Kraft
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Ahh Kraft
Nah, that'd be OYSTERS in Kraft, which is just gross....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Ahh Kraft
actually, it wouldnt be 'more like'... it'd be exactly that.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
While this matter pertains to Canada, in the US "commerce" has a distinctive meaning, and if this situation arose in the US it would almost certainly be viewed as involving "commerce".
The far more interesting question concerning what "commerce" means is being bandied about in legal circles with regard to the health insurance "mandate". The Affordable Health Care Act was enacted under Congress' "Commerce Clause" power under Article I of the Constitution. It chose this power over the "Tax Clause".
This has given grist for the mill of those who are challenging the mandate. The question is quite easily framed. How can choosing not to do something (buy insurance) even remotely be viewed as engaging in commerce? Commerce is viewed as an activity. The mandate is including within its scope "inactivity".
Imagine, if you will, a hypothetical act by Congress entitled "The Public Transportation Act of 2011", the terms of which include a mandate that people use public transportation. One choosing to walk, or ride a bike, or use alternate means of getting from Point A to Point B, by engaging the the act of not purchasing a bus ticket and riding the bus, would be subject to a federal financial levy.
Given the financial constraints each of us face daily in making choices concerning what to buy and what not to buy, it is indeed a scary proposition that through the use of the Commerce Clause we might be faced with an invoice from the Feds because we make spending choices not in line with what the Feds have determined we should be making.
In the big scheme of things I find this overreaching exercise of federal power far more troubling than worries about Kraft expressing concerns its products are being dissed by a course name.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: AC who is confused...Trademark not Health Care
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: AC who is confused...Trademark not Health Care
Is is admittedly a segue into another area, but one that might serve a useful purpose for any number of reasons. Perhaps you might want to think about it in terms of P2P transfers. Congress does have the power to try and use the commerce clause and/or the tax clause as alternates should the Copyright and Patent Clause fall short of the mark.
Downloading and uploading is an activity that falls within the regulatory powers of both states (intrastate activity) and the federal governmet (interstate and international activity). The pernicious effect of these is that they might apply to both legal and illegal downloads and uploads.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: AC who is confused...Trademark not Health Care
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: AC who is confused...Trademark not Health Care
As for hijacking, perhaps so, but at least an attempt to do more than come up with names for a course or new slogan.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: AC who is confused...Trademark not Health Care
I don't recall seeing that definition in the US trademark law, please correct me if I missed something in 15 USC Sec. 1127:
"The term �use in commerce� means the bona fide use of a mark in the ordinary course of trade, and not made merely to reserve a right in a mark. For purposes of this chapter, a mark shall be deemed to be in use in commerce�
(1) on goods when�
(A) it is placed in any manner on the goods or their containers or the displays associated therewith or on the tags or labels affixed thereto, or if the nature of the goods makes such placement impracticable, then on documents associated with the goods or their sale, and
(B) the goods are sold or transported in commerce, and
(2) on services when it is used or displayed in the sale or advertising of services and the services are rendered in commerce, or the services are rendered in more than one State or in the United States and a foreign country and the person rendering the services is engaged in commerce in connection with the services."
Now a case could be made that a free course could be a 'use in commerce' if the free course was part of an advertising campaign to bring in business for other paid courses. It seems pretty clear to me here that Mr. Clapson was offering these free cooking classes solely to aid college students eating habits and not as any part in a Machiavellian scheme to bring in more business to his cooking blog and in my opinion a court would have agreed. Looking into the Canadian Trade-marks Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. T-13) it seems like this still wouldn't be a violation as there is no likelihood of confusion that this cooking class was offered by Kraft.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: AC who is confused...Trademark not Health Care
I originally honed in on the term "commerce" only because the article here makes the declarative statement that ..."there's no use in commerce". I can easily envision circumstances where this may be true, but this does not appear to be one of them.
Again, however, my comments have been directed to US law since there are likely variations contained in Canadian law.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
How is this any different than getting a domain like kraftdinnersucks.com?
BTW, I got an idea for their website.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
i see nothing but buckets of awesome coming out of that.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Kick the Krap
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
kraft and puffs of smoke
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Maybe we should outlaw settlements. That way, it's either win or bust and we might see a huge drop in businesses suing individuals and other businesses.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Nah. That encourages the corps to fight to the proverbial death.
Loser pays has slightly more promise, but then you just end up with a lot of Hollywood Accounting spread across a lot of junior partners.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Another One Bites the Dust
With the brim pulled way down low
Ain't no sound but the sound of his feet,
Machine guns ready to go
Are you ready, Are you ready for this
Are you hanging on the edge of your seat
Out of the doorway the bullets rip
To the sound of the beat
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust
Hey, I'm gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust
How do you think I'm going to get along,
Without Kraft Mac & Cheese, when you're gone
You took me for everything that I had,
And kicked me out on my own
Are you happy, are you satisfied
How long can you stand the cheesiness
Out of the doorway the bullets rip
To the sound of the Mac & Cheese
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
There are plenty of ways you can hurt a man
And bring cheese to the ground
You can beat him
You can cheese him
You can treat him bad and leave him
When he's down
But I'm ready, yes I'm ready for you
I'm standing on my own powdered cheese wheels
Out of the doorway the bullets rip
Repeating the sound of the cheese.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Home cooking is killing the restaurant industry
Consider the implications if everybody could just cook their own food: Nobody would go to restaurants and pay for their meals any more. All the restaurants would go out of business, with millions of people going into unemployment and billions of dollars that would have been used at restaurants disappearing from the economy. With no restaurants there would be no education of new chefs, and after some time nobody would know how to cook, and all of humanity would starve to extinction!
I understand why Kraft would want to stop this, thought I think they are a bit too soft by going to the courts.
Remember that these criminals are not just learning people a craft that will result in the extinction of man. They are doing it for free. For free! Damn communists! I think we should all bring out our pitchforks and have a little lynch party.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Home cooking is killing the restaurant industry
Uh-oh! There's that old slippery slope fallacy again.
Most people I know cook at home, and also go out for occasional meals at restaurants too.
Besides, why would Kraft care? Mac and cheese is pretty much a cook-at-home item, so it seems to me cook-at-home would mean more business for Kraft.
Well here we go again. Another silly lawsuit over trivia. I think the real problem is we have too many lawyers with not enough to do, so they must file these silly lawsuits for recreation. (A bit of sarcasm here.)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
(1) Macaroni and cheese.
(2) Pasta and pasta sauces.
So long as Mr. Clapson doesn't use macaroni and cheese, and pasta and pasta sauces in his class, he should be good to go.
Bad PR move on the part of Kraft.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Kick the KD
Suing your potential customers is no way to build goodwill.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]