KELLOGG AND EXXON GET OUT THEIR CLAWS
By Adnews Staff
There's a cat fight going on in the U.S. Kellogg Co. is suing Exxon Corp. for trademark infringement saying that the company's tiger character is too similar to Kellogg's Tony the Tiger, the cat that has been promoting Kellogg's Frosted Flakes cereal since 1952. A case was dismissed in 1996, but Kellogg is appealing the dismissal because it believes the judge did not rule on the merits of the case. Exxon believes that both companies can continue to use the tiger because they make such different products. Exxon launched an animated tiger in its advertising in 1964, but Kellogg didn't have a problem with it until the 1990s when Exxon began to use it to promote its convenience stores. Exxon's tiger appeared in Canada in 1965. Although the tiger is still used north of the border, it is mostly a photo of a tiger that is used, not a cartoon.