Protecting a business idea - its child’s play

A neat little news story here to help illustrate the concept of trademark protection….

The Independent reports that the owner of Play-Doh (multinational toy giant Hasbro) has won a court case in which it claimed that a German competitor had infringed its trademarks and passed off its powdered dough mix as Hasbro’s. The competing brand - Yummy Dough - had used a promotional strap line “the edible play dough” which the court decided was designed to cause confusion amongst customers.