May 2018. Tasty Cloud Vape, which sells nicotine liquids for e-cigarettes under the brand name Watt’s, has had to defend itself in a Florida court after apple juice maker Mott’s accused the Watt’s logo of infringing its trademark.

Watt’s nicotine liquid (left) and Mott’s apple juice (right)

Old-established brand

There’s no doubt that Mott’s is an old-established brand. The company registered its trademark in the US in 1966 and in fact claims it’s been using it since 1842 (!). Yet despite repeated requests to Tasty Cloud, which began selling Watt’s nicotine ‘liquids’ in 2017, the latter wasn’t prepared to change its design.

Shameless

You clearly don’t have to be a trademark expert to see who’s in the wrong. The Watt’s logo and packaging are a straightforwardly shameless copy. What makes it especially annoying is that one product is a healthy drink marketed at children while the other is based on nicotine. So it’s quite extraordinary that Tasty Cloud should let things get to the legal proceedings stage.