Baker Creek files trademark infringement lawsuit

Mansfield-based Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds Co. LLC has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against a California company.

The April 5 complaint filed with the U.S. District Court Western District of Missouri Southern Division alleges San Francisco-based Buy Rare Seeds Inc. and its owner, Michael Rubel, have illegally used Baker Creek's trademark of the word "rareseeds."

Baker Creek, which has used the word to market its products since the late 1990s and trademarked it amid the pandemic, alleges in the suit that Buy Rare Seeds' use has damaged its sales and reputation. The lawsuit seeks a jury trial through which Baker Creek is requesting Buy Rare Seeds to stop using the rareseeds trademark, and damages to the tune of three times the amount of the defendants' profits or the plaintiff's damages, whichever is greater.

"Defendants use the mark for the purpose of attracting consumers and misleading those consumers into thinking that defendants are plaintiff, or are associated with plaintiff or that defendants can provide plaintiff’s products associated with the mark," the lawsuit reads. "Plaintiff has called and sent emails to defendants in an effort to advise them of the problematic and infringing usage of the mark in defendants’ business, but defendants refuse to engage with plaintiff and refuse to stop using the mark."

The Springfield News-Leader was first to report on the lawsuit.