On October 17, U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna M. Ryu denied Barilla America Inc.’s motion to dismiss a putative class action lawsuit that accused it of falsely representing its pastas as made in Italy. The plaintiffs, Jessica Prost and Matthew Sinatro, allege that the company’s federally trademarked phrase, “Italy’s #1 Brand of Pasta,” which is declared on the principal display panel and is accompanied by green, white, and red colors, is misleading to reasonable consumers and leads them to believe that the pasta products are made in Italy or with ingredients sourced from Italy, when the products are actually made in the United States.

According to Barilla, the purpose of the trademark is to identify Barilla to consumers as the entity that made the products, and that it is not misleading to “invoke the Company’s Italian roots through generalized representations of the brand as a whole.” Further, Barilla argues that the plaintiffs lack standing and their complaint fails to state a claim.

Judge Ryu did not find Barilla’s arguments persuasive, but found that the plaintiffs’ complaint plausibly alleges that the trademarked phrase supports a reasonable inference that the products were made in Italy or from Italian ingredients. Although Judge Ryu allowed the majority of the plaintiffs’ claims to proceed, she rejected their request for injunctive relief and the arguments that they sufficiently alleged an immediate or actual threat of future harm from being deceived by the trademarked phrase. Judge Ryu stated that the “plaintiffs cannot plausibly allege that they remain unaware that the products are manufactured in the United States from ingredients that are not from Italy or that they reasonable would be misled if they encounter the [trademarked phrase] in the future.”

Keller and Heckman will continue to monitor and report on this case and other food litigation news.