Kellogg's Takes Australian Tennis Player To Court For Branding Himself 'Special K'
from the special-kind-of-stupid dept
Last time we checked in with Kellogg's, makers of various breakfast and cereal products, they were happily sending out threat letters to a Mayan archaeology group that is only involved in the breakfast industry insofar as its employees eat breakfast, over its inclusion of a toucan bird in its logo. While Kellogg went on to settle that dispute, in light of its trademark claim being immensely dumb and a PR nightmare, the whole episode still left many of us wondering just how knowledgeable Kellogg's legal team is on trademark matters. Archaeology teams are not, generally, part of the breakfast or food industries. This seemed to be either bullying without a purpose or a brand of criminal stupidity at work. But, hey, even megalithic corporations with unlimited legal resources make mistakes.
Except we're now back to scratching our heads, as Kellogg's is going to court against an Australian tennis player because he wants to brand himself as "Special K."
South Australian tennis ace Thanasi Kokkinakis is at the centre of a court battle with global food company Kellogg’s over the right to officially brand himself Special K. Kokkinakis and volatile doubles partner Nick Kyrgios have been affectionately dubbed Australia’s Special Ks by the media and the public.
An unofficial Special Ks Twitter account has also been created in their honour. But US-based multinational Kellogg’s — which holds a 59-year-old Australian trademark for its Special K breakfast cereal — has launched Federal Court action in Adelaide to stop Kokkinakis, 21, from using Special K as part of a branding campaign across clothing and tennis wear.
This is the sort of thing that causes us to roll our eyes at how some companies look to enforce their trademarks. The whole point of trademark law is to keep the public from being confused as to the source of a product or service. Special K is indeed a well-known cereal brand. It is not, however, going to be confused for a doubles tennis team. Nor is anyone going to manage confusion at the sight of the term being used on tennis gear. Kellogg's, to my knowledge, is not in the athletics industry. It's a foodstuffs company.
Sadly, nobody involved in this legal dispute is commenting publicly about it as it is now set to go before a Federal Court. I say sadly because this is absurd. Either Kellogg's has a valid trademark for "Special K" for clothing and athletic wear, or it doesn't. If it did, I'm struggling to understand how Kokkinakis' trademark application wasn't denied by the trademark office immediately. That seems to indicate Kellogg's doesn't hold any such mark, in which case what are they doing? Different industries, laughably low concern for any consumer confusion, no infringement.
Filed Under: australia, special k, thanasi kokkinakis, trademark
Companies: kellogg's
