VPX Appeals Court Decision Over Cytosport Lawsuit
May 10, 2009
If you’ve been following
the trademark lawsuit between Cytosport and VPX over the Muscle Milk trademark, you’ll find this post entertaining. We reported the ruling last week (click HERE if you missed it) where Cytosport was granted an injunction against VPX from marketing their “Muscle Power” RTD as Cytosport felt it was too similar to their “Muscle MIlk” RTD. Well the case has gotten interesting now because VPX has filed for an appeal to the court decision! Jack Owoc, CEO, Chief Scientific Officer, dude in the many of the VPX ads, and of course also the founder of VPX, explained that VPX was highly disappointed by the ruling:
“We are very disconcerted by the court’s ruling and think that it was misled in regard to Cytosport’s rights and the nature of the competition in our industry. The only similarities in our trademarks are the use of the word ”Muscle,” but there are more than 60 registered trademarks at the Patent and Trademark Office in class 5 alone containing the word ”Muscle.” ”Muscle” is commonly used in product and company names in our industry, in part because our products help build muscle. Cytosport never objected to the registration of our trademark, despite having an opportunity to do so, and the Patent and Trademark Office found no conflict between “Muscle Power®” and “Muscle Milk®.” We have never intended to confuse customers into thinking our product was Muscle Milk® -we want them to know it’s different and better! We point out in our advertising why Muscle Power® is a better product — Muscle Milk® contains 600% more sugar and a 183% more fat than Muscle Power®. Muscle Power contains 200% more fiber and 89% less carbohydrates. We prominently put our VPX logo on the top center panel and, the background, like most VPX products, is the specific 293 Pantone Blue color that consumers have identified as our brand for many years. VPX apologizes to its customers for any disruption this may cause, and we are committed to making our popular Muscle Power® drink available again to our customers and the public as soon as possible.”
So what do you think? Do you think it’s too similar or do you think VPX has a solid argument? Post your comment below.
SOURCE: Getbig.com
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5 Responses to “VPX Appeals Court Decision Over Cytosport Lawsuit”
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Personally I would never mistake one of the above products for the other, even if I wasn’t wearing my glasses. From the pictures in the article, the only thing that looks “the same” are the actual containers that the products come in. But then I see that with products like water, milk and yogurt, not to mention the thousands of boxed and bagged ready to eat/drink products on the market.
In the case of most products on the market, the only thing that marks them as “different” is the coloring on the packaging.
And looking at the two examples in this article, if I was looking for Banana, I’d reach for the VPX brand, only because yellow says banana and brown tends to say chocolate.
When you see the two side-by-side, if these are considered by the court to be too similar, the president it sets means that this is just the tip of the iceburg - as tons of products are more similar to each other than these two!?
Get ready for more lawsuits!
Ooops, I meant “precedent”
seriously… so they use the same container, and have muscle in the title..that is where the simalarities end..what’s next?? is BSN going to sue someone who uses red bottles and jugs?
VPX has great products….I might have missed the parts where the companies were concerned about their consumers. Ot it is really just about the money? lol Anyway if I buy something I am more interested in reading the back label than the front advertisement.