There was an interesting article in the Sunday Telegraph(6th November 2005) under the title "Bran hits the fan in US cereal cafe wars."
A potential legal battle awaits as lawyers for the Chicago based, Cereality chain have now submitted a 40 point claim to the United States Patent Office, covering how the company makes and markets a bowl of cereal.
An opponent of the patent application, Gavin Baker comments that the issue is "whether people should be able to claim an exclusive right on mundane ideas any eight-year-old could think of. When someone is trying to take out a patent on mixing cereals and adding milk, that is wrong."
The application itself is quite broad and includes the firms' uniforms, the kitchen cabinet display area and the way that the cereals are mixed.
Copies of the application have been sent to rival businesses with the warning that infringement could lead to triple damages.
In turn, opponents of the application have said that these legal moves are an attempt to bully the others out of business.
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