The Trademark Battle of legacy between Old Bay and New Bae

23 Dec 2018

December 23,2018:

Based in Maryland and owned by McCormick & Company, Old Bay Seasoning is a blend of herbs and spices that is marketed in the United States.

The famous spice brand established in 1939 is under threat by a Pittsburgh-based brand. Pittsburgh-based Primal Palate launched their own ‘New Bae’ seasoning in October 2017 and took a clear shot at Old Bay with the tagline “Out with the OLD, in with the NEW.”

Bill Staley, the co-founder of Primal Palate told a newspaper that New Bae’s name was a “nod” to Old Bay, but is “designed to suggest a difference.” The result of this spicy battle ended up in a lawsuit which Old Bay filed against New Bae.

According to Mr. Bill Staley, they filed for a Trademark ‘New Bae’ in November last year and were surprised by the lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges trademark infringement and directed Primal Palate to destroy all New Bae products and give Old Bay all of the profits from the sales of New Bae.

The lawsuit stated the new product “is likely to cause confusion, mistake or deception”, also New Bae is causing damage to Old Bay’s brand by “impairing its distinctiveness and causing harm to its reputation”.

Hayley Staley, wife of the co-founder Bill Staley commented on the topic, “We reached out on multiple occasions to see if we could work this out in a nicer manner, in any other way, they said no.”

A few days ago, Primal Palate launched a ‘savenewbae’ hashtag on their Instagram account which has more than 1,89,000 followers, saying that they will fight for the name instead of settling. “We love the name, our consumers love the name, and we feel we deserve to keep it,” said Mrs. Staley in an interview.

Though the ‘New Bae’ takes a jab at the ‘Old Bay, it would be interesting to see whether New Bae will be able to survive in this battle or ‘Old Bay’ will retain its legacy by protecting their mark.