
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, September 24, 1995                   TAG: 9509250103
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Short

MUPPETS WIN A CASE OF SPA'AM

The Muppets' makers got the last laugh Friday when a federal judge in Manhattan ruled that naming a wild-boar character Spa'am did not infringe on Hormel Food Co.'s trademark for canned meat.

Judge Kimba Wood said Hormel could not block the use of the character in a new Muppet movie, ``Muppet Treasure Island,'' to be released in February.

Judge Wood rejected Hormel's arguments that the character would be confused with their lunch product, saying, ``Hormel cannot use federal trademark laws to enjoin what is obviously a joke at its expense.''

- The New York Times

by CNB