CoolBrands International Inc. announced that it has filed a lawsuit against Weight Watchers International Inc. and Wells' Dairy in response to their violation of Weight Watchers' binding, exclusive Master License Agreement (MLA) with CoolBrands. That agreement allegedly confers upon CoolBrands the exclusive right to use the Weight Watchers trademark in connection with the manufacture, sale and distribution of ice cream and frozen novelty products until September 28, 2004. Additionally, after that time, the agreement allegedly confers upon CoolBrands a non-exclusive right to continue using that trademark in connection with the manufacture, sale and distribution of ice cream and frozen novelty products until September 28, 2005.

The lawsuit, filed in New York Supreme Court in Nassau County, seeks to recover compensatory and punitive damages of $360 million resulting from Weight Watchers and Wells' Dairy disregard and multiple breaches of the MLA, and redress from both defendants for using false claims and omissions of fact to “tortiously interfere with CoolBrands' existing strong relationships with its customers.”