On February 25, 2019, BeSweet Creations LLC, manufacturer of the popular gummy bear vitamin supplements “Sugar Bear Hair,” filed suit in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida against rival supplement producer, TrueReflections Inc., alleging that the company violated the Federal Trademark Act (Lanham Act).
In the complaint, the plaintiff details its efforts over the past several years to gain brand recognition for the product through extensive social media campaigns, ecommerce websites, podcast promotions and via the product’s website, sugarbearhair.com. The supplement in question features a recognizable “bear” shape and was trademarked by the company in 2015, as a strategic attempt to make the product stand out in the marketplace. Plaintiff further set forth its attempts to differentiate the product with distinctive packaging. Within a year of its introduction to the market, plaintiff’s hair supplements became the best-selling online hair vitamin and gained recognition as the world’s first vegetarian gummy hair multivitamin.
Plaintiff claims that concurrent with Sugar Bear hair supplement success in the marketplace, the defendant began to routinely use trade dress and trademarks that are intended to imitate Sugar Bear Hair products. Plaintiff alleges that side-by-side images of the two products’ packaging reveal a striking similarity. Plaintiff argues that consumers who encounter the defendant’s product are likely to believe that the imitation product is affiliated with the Sugar Bear Hair line of products. Specifically, BeSweet Creations is alleging that the defendant willfully, intentionally and deliberately attempted to trade upon the goodwill and consumer recognition that BeSweet Creations has cultivated for Sugar Bear Hair supplements in order to increase sales of their product.
The suit brings causes of action for trademark infringement and false designations of origin; seeks a preliminary and permanent injunction to stop defendant from using plaintiff’s design, trademark or any confusingly similar mark or designation; and seeks to prevent the defendant from using any confusingly similar trade dress in the connection with the sale of its supplements.
The case is: BeSweet Creations LLC v. Trureflections Inc., Case No.: 0:19-cv-60490, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
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