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Battle of the Spices: Old Bay sues New Bae

Posted at 11:07 AM, Dec 12, 2018
and last updated 2018-12-13 07:29:46-05

BALTIMORE (WMAR) -- A battle of the seasonings is in federal court, as Maryland's Old Bay sues Pittsburgh's New Bae for copyright infringement.

The Primal Palate brands itself as an organic, gluten free, Paleo and Whole 30 approved blend of spices. They launched the New Bae product and October 2017 and say they "didn't intend to set up a terrible pun".

According to court documents, McCormick sent the store, Primal Palate, a cease-and-desist letter back in April, a couple of months after the store tried to register the New Bae spice name.

Now, McCormick is hitting Primal Palate with this trademark infringement lawsuit. McCormick argues that their New Bae spice blend capitalizes on Old Bay's "fame and goodwill" by using taglines like "Out with the old and in with the new."

The company says they believe the name will confuse customers into thinking this spice is associated with McCormick.

The owners of Primal Palate responded to the lawsuit on their Instagram page.

They do acknowledge that the New Bae seasoning is a nod to Old Bay. They go on to say "We do not see any merit to their claims, as we feel like it's far from likely to confuse customers, and our blends are also very very different."

The store owners say they want to continue to market their New Bae seasoning and plan to fight this lawsuit.