Trademark Parody? Ben & Jerry’s Doesn’t Think It’s So Funny ….
Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, Inc. (“Ben & Jerry’s”), the Vermont-based ice cream maker, recently filed a lawsuit in SDNY against adult video company Rodax Distributors, Inc. d/b/a Caballero Video, et al (“Defendants”). The complaint alleged trademark and trade dress dilution and infringement, and related claims arising from Defendants’ production and distribution of a series of hardcore pornographic DVDs whose titles and packaging play upon the names and trade dress of some of Ben & Jerry’s federally registered and famous marks.