The Company Logo for Hershey Co. is displayed on a screen on the floor of the NYSE in New York City, through out the year 2000.
A Calhoun chipmaker sued Hershey Co for the right to keep using a stylized emoji cutout on its packaging after Hershey complained it looked too much like her famous Hershey's Kisses.
The Cookie Department Inc. said Hershey's threatened trademark lawsuit accusing it of borrowing Kisses' conical configuration without permission was in retaliation for its own suit accusing Hershey of infringing its Tough Cookie mark.
Cookie Department said the teardrop it has used since 2009 merely depicts the universally known shape of a chocolate chip and called Hershey's threatened lawsuit a strategic ploy to have it soften its stance in the Tough Cookie Case.
It also called Kisses marks inherently weak as the Kisses marks are the same shape and design as those of chocolate and baking chips used worldwide since the 1940 s.
Hershey spokesman Jeff Beckman said the company does not address pending litigation.
The Tough Cookie suit concerns Hershey's use of the word 'tough cookies only on packaging for One protein bars. Cookie Department is a mediation scheduled for Sept. 16.
Hershey, located in Hershey, Pennsylvania, invented Hershey's Kisses in 19 East Chocolate Avenue in 1907, and has been registered according to court papers with related trademark registrations since at least 1976.
It said average annual U.S. sales of Kisses products were more than $490 million in the last five years.
The case is Cookie Department Inc v Hershey Co et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, no.