Haagen-Dazs, Inc. v. Frusen Gladje Ltd.

Haagen-Dazs, Inc. (plaintiff) was the producer of Haagen-Dazs ice cream, which has come to be known as a premium ice cream product. Frusen Gladje Ltd. (defendant) produced Frusen Gladje ice cream, which, despite being a more recent entrant into the ice cream market, was marketed as a premium ice cream product. Haagen-Dazs brought suit against Frusen Gladje for unfair competition in violation of the Lanham Act and New York State Law. Haagen-Dazs alleged that Frusen Gladje used a similar ice cream container in order to cash in on the commercial magnetism of the unique Scandinavian marketing technique Haagen-Dazs had created and to confuse the public into believing that Frusen Gladje’s product was related to that of Haagen-Dazs’s. Haagen-Dazs further alleged that Frusen Gladje’s container was intended to deceive the public into believing that its product was made and sold in Sweden. To that end, Haagen Dazs claimed that Frusen Gladje was produced in America and not sold in Sweden at all; that Frusen Gladje’s container used three lines of Swedish language to add to the false impression that it was made and sold in Sweden; and that Frusen Gladje’s container included a statement that the recipe came “From Old Sweden,” when, in fact, the recipe came from America. Haagen-Dazs then moved for a preliminary injunction to prevent Frusen Gladje’s use of the allegedly infringing container.