Bakery Chain Great Harvest Co, which has been famous for its fresh bakery products, has sued Panera, for allegedly infringing the trademark for a confusingly similar advertising slogan.
Last Thursday, Great Harvest Co. filed a lawsuit in federal court of Charlotte, North Carolina against Panera Bread.
The suit, filed on behalf of Great Harvest's more than 200 owner-operated stores, claims the company received a trademark in October 2014 for its mantra, ''Bread. The Way it ought to be,'' according to Boston Business.
Great Harvest received a trademark in October 2014 for the phrase "Bread. The way it ought to be," reports the Associated Press. Only eight months later in June 2015, Panera debuted an advertising campaign with the slogan "Food as it should be," which was too similar according to Great Harvest.
''We need to protect the investment being made by our individual small business owners from being drowned out or overrun by a multi-million dollar national advertising campaign,'' Great Harvest president Eric Keshin said in a statement.
According to a spokesperson for Great Harvest, the suit was filed in North Carolina because the local franchises were concerned about the alleged trademark infringement.
Notably, Great Harvest specializes in handcrafted breads with whole wheat, which has been purchased from family owned farms.
On the other hand, Panera Baking operates with nearly 2,600 bakery cafes in 46 states in Ontario, Canada, under the names of Panera Bread, St Louis Bread Co., Paradise Bakery & Café.
With the filed lawsuit, Great Harvest has asked Panera Bakery to suspend any advertising promotion using the phrase and the slogan.
Notably, Panera Bread did not respond to a request for comment, but sources suggest that they will be taking active steps to trademark their slogan "Food as it should be", to avoid any future lawsuits, and claims of similar slogans.
