STOCKHOLM – A Swedish court has ordered candy maker Mars to stop selling M&Ms in the Scandinavian country, at least not with the customary lower-case letters it uses on the packaging and on the colorful chocolates.
The Svea Court of Appeal said Wednesday it ruled against Mars in a trademark dispute with Kraft Foods, which sells chocolate-covered peanuts under the Marabou brand with a single “m” on the packaging.
It said Kraft has exclusive rights to the trademark in Sweden.
However, it added that using the upper-case M&Ms, as Mars does in its corporate communications, doesn’t constitute a trademark infringement in Sweden.
Mars said it believed “no confusion exists” between the two chocolates.
“We have always believed no confusion exists between the colourful m&m’s brand – one of the world’s favourite chocolate products – and the Marabou M Peanut Brand,” Mars in a statement. “Given the court’s decision we will assess the next steps for our beloved brand in Sweden.”
Until 2009, Mars did not sell its M&M’s chocolates in Sweden.
Mars makes M&Ms in the United States at its plant in Cleveland, Tenn. Mars’ 650,000-square-foot plant was enlarged in 2013 with a $67 million expansion that boosted production to 330 million M&M’s per day and 72 tons of Twix in 12 hours.
The Cleveland plant is not expected to be affected by the Swedish patent dispute.