The Greek yogurt company Chobani created a billion-dollar business from a stolen marketing strategy, a new federal lawsuit claims.
Business advice author Dov Seidman slapped Chobani with the trademark infringement suit on Wednesday, saying the successful dairy company swiped his popular “How” philosophy.
Seidman, whose 2011 edition of the book “How” features a forward by former President Bill Clinton, is paid by companies like Apple and Rolls-Royce to improve corporate ethics.
He says Chobani stole his message for its 2014 branding campaign launched with a Super Bowl spot.
One Chobani ad says, “It’s not just what you do, but how you do it that matters,” a nearly verbatim take on Seidman’s message, “It’s no longer what you do that matters most but how you do it,” from his “How” website.
The suit comes after Chobani founder Hamdi Ulukaya’s ex-wife accused him of stealing the yogurt recipe from rival Fage.
Seidman says he reached out to Chobani and its ad agency Droga5 to discuss the alleged infringement, but a meeting scheduled for April 21 was canceled after its reps said similarities between the campaign and the author’s work were “purely coincidental,” according to the suit.
But Seidman claims the firms knew they were poaching his philosophy because Chobani tweeted at him on Jan. 29, “@DovSeidman Thanks for inspiring the world to care about ‘how.’ Can you help inspire the food industry, too?,” according to court papers.
Droga5 head David Droga told The Economist in March, “We built something around ‘how matters.’ How a product is made matters, how you treat your employees matters, how you source your ingredients matters. [Chobani] wants to turn it into a conversation.”
But the author says he had people talking about “how matters” years ago. In 2008, columnist Thomas Friedman said, “Seidman basically argues … how you do things matter more than ever.”
Chobani has cornered 52 percent of its market. Sales reached $1 billion last year.
The Harvard Law School grad is also suing Manhattan-based Droga5, which counts Healthcare.gov, HoneyMaid and Motorola as clients.
He wants Chobani to immediately stop using his trademarked philosophy, plus unspecified money damages.
A Chobani spokeswoman said, “We are disappointed that Dov Seidman would choose to challenge Chobani’s use of its “How Matters” trademark. Mr. Seidman’s allegations are baseless and without merit.”