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ARTICLE · 12 JUNE 2024

Should Kellogg's Be Frosted By Seinfeld's 'Unfrosted'?

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"Unfrosted," Jerry Seinfeld's unauthorized (and totally made up) history of Pop Tarts, dropped on Netflix on May 3, 2024, to mixed reviews and 7.1 million viewers in its first week.

United StatesIntellectual Property
Bryan K. Wheelock
Bryan K. Wheelock

"Trademark law only prevents consumer confusion and dilution of a mark's distinctiveness and tarnishment of its reputation; it does not create a right not to be parodied."

"Unfrosted," Jerry Seinfeld's unauthorized (and totally made up) history of Pop Tarts, dropped on Netflix on May 3, 2024, to mixed reviews and 7.1 million viewers in its first week. Many of those who watched probably assumed Seinfeld had Kellogg's permission to use the Pop Tarts trademark – such is the success that brand owners have had in convincing the public of the brand owners' exclusive control over their marks. However, brand owners do not have control over all uses of their marks. As Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes stated in the 1924 Supreme Court Case Prestonettes, Inc. v. Coty, trademarks are not "taboo." Seinfeld has repeatedly stated that Kellogg's did not authorize "Unfrosted" and has even joked about testifying in a lawsuit. So far, none has been filed, and with little chance

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