"Brick Oven" Too Generic for Trademark Protection

The Eighth Circuit affirmed summary judgment denying trademark protection for "Brick Oven" as applied to frozen pizzas. Schwan's IP, LLC v. Kraft Pizza Co., 460 F.3d 971 (8th Cir. 2006) (/06/08/053463P.pdf). In March 2003, Schwan's labeled its Freschetta brand pizzas as Freschetta Brick Oven pizzas. At the time, no one else in the industry used the phrase "brick oven" in conjunction with frozen pizzas. Schwan's tried to get a federal trademark registration for "Brick Oven," but they failed in all three attempts. Later in 2003, Kraft labeled its Tombstone brand as Tombstone Brick Oven pizzas. Schwan's filed a lawsuit claiming trademark infringement. The court held that Brick Oven is a type of pizza that is too generic for trademark protection. The court observed that commentators, retailers, newspapers and restaurants all use the term Brick Oven to identify pizzas cooked in a brick oven.