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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, October 31, 2005

Name's a dud, says Hershey

By David Colker
Los Angeles Times

The name of a small, Temecula, Calif., clothing company producing outfits for nursing mothers is Milkdudz.

Get it?

Candy giant Hershey Foods Corp. — maker of Milk Duds chocolate-covered caramel — did, and was not happy about it.

Last week, Milkdudz co-founder Kiersten Wall, who runs the business out of her home garage, received a notice from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that Hershey was officially protesting her use of the Milkdudz name.

It didn't come as a surprise to the 29-year-old Wall. In August, she had received a letter from Hershey demanding that she give up the name for her line of clothing, including dresses and coverups designed for women who want to breast-feed in style.

"It was a very nice letter," Wall said on Friday. "It came with a 5-pound bar of chocolate."

The sweetener didn't work. Wall said she will fight to keep the name of the company she started last year.

Hershey declined to comment on Friday.