No Non-Organic Mushrooms Welcome Here!

Hokto Kinoko Co. and Hokuto Co., Ltd. v. Concord Farms, Inc.

Addressing the issue of whether an importer of non-organic mushrooms from a Japanese producer infringed a trademark owned by the U.S. subsidiary of the Japanese producer, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld summary judgment in favor of the U.S. subsidiary because the imported non-organic mushrooms were materially different from the U.S. grown organic mushrooms, but bore the same mark and was thus likely to cause consumer confusion.  Hokto Kinoko Co. and Hokuto Co., Ltd. v. Concord Farms, Inc., Case No. 11-56461 (9th Cir., Dec. 24, 2013) (Wardlaw, J.)

Hokto USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hokuto Japan, cultivates U.S. certified organic mushrooms in its state-of-the-art U.S. facility.  Before the facility was completed in 2009, Hokto USA imported mushrooms from Hokuto Japan which grew and packaged its mushrooms to suit U.S. consumer preferences and in growing conditions that met U.S.