NEW YORK — Caballero Video has agreed to pull its “Ben & Cherry” DVDs off of the shelves, stop marketing the title and destroy the content used in making the 10 videos in the series.
Reuters reported today that the studio acquiesced while a lawsuit against it by the ice cream giant, Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Inc., a unit of London-based Unilever Plc, is pending.
In the trademark infringement suit filed Sept. 5 in U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York against Rodax Distributors Inc., of North Hollywood, Calif. — Caballero’s formal name — the plaintiff’s maintain that DVD titles such as "Boston Cream Thighs," "Chocolate Fudge Babes," "Peanut Butter D-Cups" were too similar to its ice cream flavors Boston Cream Pie, Chocolate Fudge Brownie and Peanut Butter Cup.
Ben & Jerry's said Caballero's packaging and copy could be confused with the company’s images of puffy white clouds and grazing cows, just as the slogan, "Porno's Finest," punned on "Vermont's Finest."
A recall of the products last Thursday temporarily stopped distribution, but that order did not force a total recall.
According to Reuters, terms of the recall and other restrictions were set forth in a consent injunction signed by Caballero's president, Tomer Yoffe, and approved on Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan.
Yoffe was contacted by XBIZ but was not available for comment at post time.
