A bowl of cereal with milk and spoon

Cereal company vs indie rockers in trademark dispute over OK Go

By James Wan

What you need to know (in a nutshell)

  1. A trademark battle has begun between breakfast cereal giant Post Foods and indie rock band OK Go over Post Food’s “OK! Go” breakfast cereal to-go cups.
  2. OK Go has been threatening to sue Post for infringing on the band’s trademark rights to its name by launching the to-go cereal cups, claiming that the brand is similar to theirs.
  3. Post filed a lawsuit against OK Go seeking a declaration that Post’s use of the OK GO! mark does not violate the Lanham Act, related state law claims, or any of OK Go’s trademark rights.

Full Article

In a rather unexpected turn of events, indie rock band OK Go is entangled in a trademark dispute with breakfast cereal behemoth Post Foods, LLC. The contention revolves around Post’s “OK! Go” branded cups designed for their on-the-go cereal range, which has caught the band’s attention. OK Go rose to fame following their 2005 music video, “Here It Goes Again,” which garnered numerous accolades, including a Grammy and a YouTube award, and even earned a spot on Time Magazine’s list of the 30 best music videos of all time.

Responding to this development, Post Foods filed an official lawsuit against the band on January 13th, 2023, in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. The suit alleges that OK Go had threatened the company over trademark infringement issues related to using their name in product branding.

Upon learning about the situation, OK Go expressed their disbelief in a statement via Billboard, questioning how “a big corporation [could] choose to steal [their] name to market disposable plastic cups of sugar to children…and then sue us about it?” The band insinuated that Post Foods is attempting to bully them out of their name, given the corporation’s significantly larger financial resources to spend on legal representation. This tactic appears to be one commonly employed by larger companies to strong-arm smaller entities into submission when there is a glaring disparity in the resources available to both parties.

Cereal aficionados are now keenly awaiting further developments to see whether the OK Go-branded cereal cups will ultimately receive the band’s endorsement. As this intriguing saga unfolds, one can only wait and watch to determine if it will come to fruition.