Israel’s leading matzo manufacturer is telling a Brooklyn bakery: Let my trademark go!
Matzot Aviv Ltd. claims in court papers that a competitor from the Holy Land is engaged in a kosher-food conspiracy with Bagel Bites USA Inc. to illegally slap the “Aviv” brand name on Passover pastries.
Matzot Aviv, whose Bnei Brak factory sends more than a million pounds of matzos to America a year, learned about the alleged infringement in October, when manager Roy Wolf attended the annual Kosherfest convention in New Jersey.
“At the show, Mr. Wolf saw a booth exhibiting baked goods labeled ‘Aviv’ and obtained a brochure,” the Manhattan federal court suit says. “The brochure states that the products are manufactured by Patisserie Aviv in Rishon Lezion, Israel, and imported and distributed by Bagel Bites USA Inc.”
Matzot Aviv, which has been making matzos since 1887 and recently invested $1 million to expand into cookies and other “non-matzo products,” quickly applied to extend its American “Aviv” trademark to include cookies and other baked goods. It also sent a “cease-and-desist” letter that Bagel Bites allegedly ignored.
Bagel Bites’ Web site shows nearly a dozen desserts on its “Aviv” page, including traditional Hanukkah jelly doughnuts called sufganiot.
Bagel Bites’ owner, Ofel Elia, denied any wrongdoing, saying, “The fight is between the two factories” in Israel.