Lorenz Bahlsen and Kelly at loggerheads

Lorenz Bahlsen Snack-World GmbH & Co KG,Neu-Isenburg, and their Austrian rivals Kelly GmbH, Vienna, are at loggerheads. The issue at stake is the question of whether “Soletti” is just the name of a pretzel snack,or a brand in its own right. A TV advert for Lorenz Snack World Saltletts Bits contains the words “...nothing but Soletti up until now..” Lorenz maintain that Soletti is not a brand name but only a product description and thus not protected.Kelly in response lodged a request for a temporary injunction .Should the court uphold Lorenz’s point of view then all pretzel snack manufacturers will have the right to name their products “Soletti”. Kelly sees the affair as an attack on Austrian brands.