What Comes Around..

Nestlé USA is taking aim at Muscle Milk, filing a complaint with the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus that has since been referred to the Federal Trade Commission and the Food and Drug Administration, as well as filing a petition to revoke the brand's trademark. Nestlé says that CytoSport's Muscle Milk name is "deceptively misdescriptive" because the beverage contains no milk. The New York Times

Muscle Milk has been quite litigious over the years. They’ve sued in the past to block others from using variations of milk, opposing trademark applications for products including Mega Milk, Active Milk Shake Plus and Monster Milk.

So why is Nestle going after a sports drink company? Apparently Nesquik is promoting itself as a sports drink: after a 2006 study partly funded by the dairy industry found that chocolate milk helped in replenishing the body after workouts.

I don’t think I would be going out on a limb to say that that the previous targets of CytoSport’s attorneys are cheering Nestlé on as they challenge CytoSport’s trademark on Muscle Milk. I’m all for protecting your brand, but when you go overboard, karma is going to bite you back at some point. Looks like CytoSport is finally getting a dose of their own medicine.