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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — One of the nation’s leading cheese producers waited much too long to object to a jerky and smoked meat company’s use of the word “Tillamook,” the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday.
The Tillamook County Creamery Association is a well-known producer cooperative that makes cheese at a factory on Oregon’s coast. It is described in court papers as the second-largest producer of some varieties, behind Kraft. The cooperative formed in 1909.
In 1976, a member of the association, Crawford Smith, started the jerky and smoked meats business and named it Tillamook Country Smoker.
The dispute arose when the meat company moved to expand its supermarket sales in the late 1990s.
The creamery filed suit alleging trademark infringement, but U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman ruled in 2004 that it was too late.
He and the appeals court cited legal principals that require lawsuits to be filed in a timely way, rather than delayed until an interest such as the beef company’s name and packaging has become established and valuable.
For years, the appeals court said, the cheese and beef enterprises had close ties, and for more than two decades the creamery didn’t object to the beef company’s use of the word “Tillamook.”
“The cheese people had actual knowledge of Tillamook Country Smoker’s activities, but never said a word,” the court said. “Not only that, the cheese folks even sold Tillamook Country Smoker’s products in its own gift shop and in its mail-order catalog.”
The meat company’s move to expand supermarket sales was just a business growing, not an encroachment on the creamery, said the three-judge panel.
If the meat company had expanded into “selling cheese in grocery stores,” the court said, “it would be a different story.”
The Tillamook County Creamery Association is a well-known producer cooperative that makes cheese at a factory on Oregon’s coast. It is described in court papers as the second-largest producer of some varieties, behind Kraft. The cooperative formed in 1909.
In 1976, a member of the association, Crawford Smith, started the jerky and smoked meats business and named it Tillamook Country Smoker.
The dispute arose when the meat company moved to expand its supermarket sales in the late 1990s.
The creamery filed suit alleging trademark infringement, but U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman ruled in 2004 that it was too late.
He and the appeals court cited legal principals that require lawsuits to be filed in a timely way, rather than delayed until an interest such as the beef company’s name and packaging has become established and valuable.
For years, the appeals court said, the cheese and beef enterprises had close ties, and for more than two decades the creamery didn’t object to the beef company’s use of the word “Tillamook.”
“The cheese people had actual knowledge of Tillamook Country Smoker’s activities, but never said a word,” the court said. “Not only that, the cheese folks even sold Tillamook Country Smoker’s products in its own gift shop and in its mail-order catalog.”
The meat company’s move to expand supermarket sales was just a business growing, not an encroachment on the creamery, said the three-judge panel.
If the meat company had expanded into “selling cheese in grocery stores,” the court said, “it would be a different story.”
