NBCUniversal has filed a lawsuit against a company for the alleged fraudulent trademark registration of Dunder Mifflin, the name of the company featured in The Office.
As Deadline reports, the company filed the lawsuit on Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, and accuses the Jay Kennette Media Group of being a “trademark squatter” with the Dunder Mifflin name. According to the suit, the company and its owner, Jay Kennette, “built a business based on registering trademarks belonging to others," which it allegedly would sell back to rightful owners or profit from "consumer confusion" with unauthorized merchandise.
The Jay Kennette Media Group registered the Dunder Mifflin trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office approximately six years ago to sell various merchandise, including t-shirts and other clothing. NBCUniversal attempted to register Dunder Mifflin, which is the name of the paper company in the show, but had its application rejected. The company is now appealing the decision, and seeks to end Kennette’s use of the name. The lawsuit also asks for unspecified damages and profits derived from any related merch, and for all remaining Dunder Mifflin merchandise to be destroyed.
The Office officially came to an end just under a decade ago, but that hasn’t stopped fans from obsessing over the workplace-based comedy. As the series has made its way to Peacock, NBCUniversal has been treating fans to extended editions of classic episodes featuring previously unseen material. The most recent season of extended episodes arrived at the start of the month.
