Barefoot Contessa, wholly owned by acclaimed chef and TV host Ina Garten, on Tuesday asked the U.S. District Court in Manhattan to order OFI Imports in Vernon, Calif., and its affiliates to immediately cease manufacturing and distributing its “Contessa Chef Inspired” line of frozen food products and any products bearing the Barefoot Contessa name.
The East Hampton, N.Y.-based company said that OFI’s design, packaging and recipes are directly copied from a previously authorized Barefoot Contessa-branded dinners. In a statement, the company said that OFI “blatantly seeks to trade on the enormous goodwill and prestige of the Barefoot Contessa brand,” and that customers have complained about the confusion.
“The continued production of products bearing the name ‘Contessa Chef Inspired’ and sold in a way that is virtually identical to 'Barefoot Contessa' dinners represents clear infringement of our intellectual property rights,” said Garten. “OFI has refused to stop, and that leaves no choice other than to pursue legal action that will protect the brand that I've built over the last 35 years.”
A call to OFI Imports, which markets frozen Mexican shrimp under the Markesa brand, among other seafood products, was not returned.
Barefoot Contessa dinners were produced from February 2013 until last spring, when the third-party manufacturer Contessa Premium Foods went out of business. Contessa Premium Foods is unrelated to Barefoot Contessa, despite the similarity of the names, and Garten had no ownership in that company.
OFI purchased assets from Contessa Premium Foods manufacturing company but did not acquire licensing rights for the Barefoot Contessa brand. Garten has not authorized anyone to continue production of any food product line bearing her name.
