Not Something to Smile About Print
Wednesday, January 20 2010

A Plano, Texas company is being sued by a Pennsylvania baker and restaurant chain that alleges a trademark violation over a smiley face cookie.

Pennsylvania-based bakery and restaurant chain Eat’n Park says Cookies by Design is using its trademark of a smiling face on some of its sugar cookies.  Eat'n Park says it has a trademark from 1987 for the "sugar cookie having raised design of a smiling face." According to the lawsuit’s Exhibit A, both versions of the cookies show a circle with two round eyes, a dot for a nose and a perky smile. 

Eat’n Park is seeking an undisclosed amount of damages and wants Cookies by Design to stop selling what it says are smiley-face cookies that are “confusingly similar.”

"The smiley cookie is one of the most recognizable brand icons in the area," Kevin O'Connell, spokesman for Eat’n Park said. "It's insanely popular."

In a written statement, Cookies by Design’s parent company, Crumb Corps LLC, says it "denies the allegations in the Complaint and intends to mount a vigorous defense of this matter."

—Source:  WFAA.com and DallasNews.com