Nabisco Sues Over Fish-Shaped Crackers

Nabisco Inc., the largest U.S. cookie and cracker company, is suing for the right to sell fish-shaped cheese crackers, a product that rival Pepperidge Farm Inc. says it popularized with its own goldfish crackers. Nabisco sued Pepperidge Farm in New York, and asked a federal judge to declare that it’s not violating the trademark for Pepperidge Farm’s mini-goldfish crackers. Pepperidge Farm had demanded that Nabisco cancel plans to include fish-shaped characters in its new animal cracker product, the suit said. The Nabisco crackers are based on Nickelodeon television’s “Catdog” cartoon series and are scheduled to be introduced in March. Pepperidge Farm contends in a letter sent to Nabisco that Nabisco is illegally piggybacking on the success of its goldfish design and trying to confuse customers. Executives of Camden, N.J.-based Campbell Soup Co., which owns Pepperidge Farm, had no immediate comment on the suit. Nabisco is a unit of New York-based RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp.