Milkdudz vs. Hershey...Or David vs. Goliath

One of my very best friends, Kiersten, (who I've writte about before), has her own company, called Millkdudz. Milkdudz (click here for link), is a line of nursing-wear products; BabyMina's, which are adorable nursing cover-ups, and her real passion, nursing apparel; gowns, and most importantly (and not yet to market, but will be very, very soon) fun/cute/sexy nursing bras and panties, for hot-nursing mama's. 

All of her products are cute, fun and designed to make a nursing mom feel a little more like herself after delivering a baby and having her body completely baby-renovated.  I've given her products as gifts to friends and family, and I also shot a majority of the product shots on her site. I really believe in what she's trying to do.

This whole nusring-mom thing is something Kiersten and I have spent a lot of time talking about; how miserable you feel about yourself, post-partum, and what could be done to make that a little bit better. Those kind of coversations with her fellow moms, and her drive and determination, led her to form Milkdudz. With the tagline, "Not your mommaz' nursing wear," which, if you know Kier, is all her. This is her passion; she has put so much time, thought, energy, blood, sweat and tears into her company and what does she get for her trouble?

Sued!

Hershey Co. is suing my dear friend. My friend, who really just wants to help women feel a smidge happier and more confident in their post-baby bodies. It's a very David and Goliath sort of thing. However, as the adage goes; even bad press is good press...Kiersten, and her company are getting a lot of print lately. A lot of papers (all over the U.S., in Canada, Australia, radio and television news) have picked up on the story. If you go to Google News and search for it, you'll find a (excuse the pun) google of stories about the 'controversy.' 

The news is not really news, well, to me, or Kier. Kiersten got a cease and desist letter quite a while ago, and we've been joking about it for some time. In fact, they even had the audacity to include a Hershey bar with the letter!! As a way of 'being nice' or something. I howled with laughter when she told me. We both couldn;t believe the the situation. Especially given that Hershsey's main complaint seems to be that people will be 'confused' by the simlar names. I guess Hershey doesn't think the consumer-public will be able to tell the difference between a nursing bra and a bite of chocolatey-goodness. As though someone would go into a cute boutique, see the BabyMina's with the Milkdudz logo,and take a big bite. Hershey doesn't seem to get the joke, and it looks like she is really going to get sued.  I hope Oprah hears about it, and puts her on her program. Kiersten is a die-hard Oprah fan, and it really would be the icing on the cake of all this press to get on her favorite Diva's show. Oh, and if she does get asked, I hope she takes me with her.

Comments

[ross]

Totally.
More on this on my blog.

[Kier]

I love love love the McCord's and yes this ENTIRE thing is so very amazing - Do you really think that Oprah would care enough?? You know that you would be sitting right next to me holding my hand and telling me to breath in a bag :)

[Misty]

Wow, this is such a bummer to hear. I will definately be thinking of Kiersten and her family right now. I really hope all of this passes without issue and all is smoothed out! If Kiersten ever needs any alternative name ideas if Hershsey won't back off, Kel you could get some ideals right here. May you not need it, but here's my contribution.

FeedingWithFliar

[Lisa]

O, how I wish I had known about the Babyminas a few months ago! How weird that I read this today, the very day I've decided, yep, I 'm finished breastfeeding.

The whole thing is silly. I hope for the best for Kiersten and her company.

[Wes]

Obviously some corporate lawyer at Hershey was having a slow day... that or it is just a lousy corporate lawyer doing his "job."

Either way that is a BS lawsuit and SOP for companies. Basically do the cease and desist leter then throw it into litigation to be so spendy that they little guy has to fold.

Prolly good press for your friend, but likely very bad press for Hershey (like thier mediocre candy isn't enough of a turn off).

[Sondra]

WHAT?!?! That is insane!!! First of all, I must say to Kiersten that I love love love her products. I haven't started my family yet, so I have yet to try them out personally, but I saw them a while back on the CelebrityBabies site, and was instantly smitten!

I hope Oprah does hear of this and asks you to be on her show. Power to the mommaz!!

I think I may just have to blog about this myself!

[Sondra]

Whoops- sorry Kel, for the double trackback ping. I had to make a correction, and when I republished, it pinged you again. My apologies!

[Lindsey]

Dude! I love my Milkdudz (I have the BabyMina courtesy of you, Kel). I think I will go to the Hershey's Corporate headquarters and breastfeed without the Milkdudz covering my milk makers...then, I should cause a commotion, and tell the media Hershey's is anti-family and is trying to ruin a company that simplifies motherhood and supports breastfeeding which is the best nutrition for babies. But, I bet Hershey's would just give me a candy bar and tell me to shut up.

[Steve]

Not legal advice, but...

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but from what I remember in school (and what I just looked up to refresh my memory) this is pretty much a text book case of trademark dilution. In other words, "Milk Duds" is a famous trademark and the use of "Milkdudz" - no matter the product - is substantially similar. The good news is that damages are usually not awarded in these cases so often times companies like Hershey's will pay the cost to change the name instead of going to court.

The whole "confusion in the marketplace" argument is for trademark infringement, which doesn't seem like it would apply here. They probably just included it for the scare effect.

[Kier]

Lindsey - we WILL keep that offer in mind :) Steve, you are right, but they are still claiming infringement too - isn't that a hoot? I agree that the dilution is a tough one, but we have been forwarded SO many cases in which a "famous mark" claim lost!! So we are crossing our fingers :)

[Lindsey]

Man, I got shot down (again) by my pessimistic lawyer husband, he said if I caused a big commotion, Hershey's is liable to sue me for slander...curse you, corporate lawyers! Good luck, Milkdudz...hmmm, I wonder why Burger King can call their burger a Whopper?

[Steve]

Kier, good luck. No matter what my wife says, I wasn't meaning to be overly pessimistic. I actually ran the facts by my law school friends. None of them had anything constructive to say, except that one of them was inspired to think up a liquid nitrogen based cream to freeze off hemorrhoids. He wants to call it "Polar-Roids". Lawyer humor, I guess.

[Rae]

Oh. My. Goodness. You would think that they would listen to reason.