On March 17, 2021, in a matter of first impression, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held a party appealing a decision of the United States Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) may seek review of...more
Agreement Requires PepsiCo Regional Staff -- Not Local Managers -- to Review All Reasonable Accommodations Requests in Florida - WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Frito-Lay, Inc., a Plano, Texas-based subsidiary of PepsiCo that...more
Snack Food Giant Fired Seventh-day Adventist Sales Representative After He Refused to Train on Saturdays Due to His Religious Beliefs, Federal Agency Charges - WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Frito-Lay, Inc., a Plano, Texas-based...more
FDA Warning Letters Provide Opportunity for Food-Safety Reminders During Viral and Bacterial Outbreaks - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent warning letters to Jimmy John’s Franchise, LLC and its supplier...more
According to the Federal Circuit, the skinny on the term “Thins” is that it may be generic for thinly cut snack crackers. Real Foods Pty Ltd. V. Frito-Lay North America, Inc., (October 4, 2018 Fed. Cir.)....more
Federal Circuit Summary - Before Wallach, Linn, and Hughes. Appeal from the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Summary: To determine whether a mark is generic, the TTAB must first properly identify the genus of the goods...more
Let’s face it. The hiring process involves mounds of regulations, disclosures, authorizations, and then more disclosures. The last thing an employer – or applicant – wants to see is a higher stack of documents filled with...more
US, EU Near Agreement on Shellfish Trade - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed to allow the import of raw bivalve molluscan shellfish—including clams, mussels, oysters and scallops—harvested in the...more
French Agency Finds Unlabeled Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles in Food - The Direction générale de la concurrence, de la consommation et de la répression des fraudes (DGCCRF), a French agency for consumer affairs and fraud...more
To settle a class action challenging advertising for chips and dip products touted as “made with all natural ingredients,” Frito-Lay North America, Inc., has agreed to change its labeling....more
In a 54 page decision issued on September 6, 2017, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (the “Board”) ended (again) a long-standing dispute between snack food makers Frito-Lay, Inc. (“Frito”) and Princeton Vanguard, LLC...more
FDA Seeks Comment on Regulation Changes for "Meaningful Burden Reduction" - Implementing an executive order titled "Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs," the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has...more
EU to Issue Guidelines on Discriminatory Food Distribution - European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has reportedly indicated the EU will issue guidelines discouraging companies from selling apparently identical...more
Food and beverage recalls, regardless of the reason, continue to proliferate in the news cycle. At the end of May General Mills issued a recall of 10 million pounds of flour due to a potential link to an outbreak of E. coli...more
The U. S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit vacated and remanded for further proceedings the decision of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB or Board) cancelling the registration of the mark PRETZEL CRISPS,...more
Is PRETZEL CRISPS a Generic Term? Federal Circuit Resets Standard for Genericness - In an earlier precedential decision, the TTAB held there was a dichotomy in the standard for determining whether an applied-for mark...more
In This Issue: - Recent Significant Developments And Rulings ..Voluntary Dismissal in Frito-Lay Pretzel Case ..Court Denies Motion to Dismiss in Florida "Natural" Action ..Court Embraces Standing...more
A federal trial court in Texas has entered an agreed order granting a joint motion for voluntary dismissal filed by the parties in Frito-Lay v. Department of Labor. As discussed in our prior Alert, in Frito-Lay, the company...more
Battle of the Miners - The University of Texas at El Paso (“UTEP”) has used the nickname MINERS since at least 1914. UTEP, through its governing board, owns several registrations for the mark MINERS and a logo for...more
Earlier this week the Department of Labor moved to remand Frito-Lay’s lawsuit seeking to block the production of employment data in connection with an OFCCP investigation into discrimination at its Dallas facility. Frito-Lay,...more
We recently discussed the growing conflict in the Northern District of California over whether plaintiffs need to plead reliance to state a claim under the “unlawful prong” of California’s Unfair Competition Law (UCL). Judge...more
Last week, a New York federal court dismissed numerous claims against Frito-Lay North America, Inc. in a multidistrict class action over “all natural” labels on Frito-Lay products such as Tostitos, SunChips and Fritos Bean...more
Last week, the Department of Labor moved to dismiss Frito-Lay’s lawsuit (Frito-Lay, Inc. v. Department of Labor, 3:12-cv-01747 (N.D. Tex. 2012)) seeking to block the production of employment data for an OFCCP investigation...more