Bandon ups ante over use of name.

Byline: Winston Ross The Register-Guard

BANDON - Despite a half-ton peace offering of cheese, the battle of the Bandons shows no sign of waning.

On Monday, the Bandon City Council will ponder a harshly worded resolution, aimed at the Tillamook County Creamery Association.

The creamery bought the beloved Bandon Cheese company in 2000, and has since shut down the factory, moved the cheese-making operation to the towns of Boardman and Tillamook and turned the facility into a retail outlet.

Residents weren't happy to lose their cheese company. Nor was the Good Neighbors food bank glad to see a longtime source of discounted cheese disappear.

But the controversy got ugly last month after a select group of Bandon businesses started getting letters from the creamery notifying them that the company had trademarked the name "Bandon" and that they may have to make a content change - to avoid confusion.

The city didn't get such a letter, but as the most obvious centerpiece for a spat over the Bandon name, city officials jumped right into the fray. They hired a local lawyer with some trademark expertise to research the matter, and exchanged several terse e-mails with creamery marketers.

After the dispute made headlines in December, the creamery sent a letter to the city of Bandon asking for a sit-down meeting. The company also agreed to donate 1,000 pounds of cheese to the food bank.

"I'm delighted," said food bank director Carol Doty. "That will give us enough for at least two months and a little more.

"They're feeling like they want to be good neighbors."

Creamery Chief Executive Officer Jim McMullen said this week he probably should have talked with city officials early on. "I'm willing to admit it was probably a mistake" not to meet with the city, McMullen said.

But on the brand issue, the company remains firm. Thus, the council's resolution - which publicly asks the state attorney general and officials in any state where Bandon cheese is distributed to sue the company and gain restitution for fraudulently implying that the cheese is made in Bandon. The resolution also demands that the creamery stop using the name "Bandon."

"Tillamook's misuse of the Bandon name spoils the goodwill earned by genuine Bandon producers and service providers, causes economic harm, and degrades the integrity of the marketplace," the resolution reads. "Consumers have a right to be honestly apprised and not misled about the geographic origins of the specialty food products they choose to purchase, even if Tillamook believes it is doing the city of Bandon a favor by manufacturing 'Bandon' products in Tillamook, Boardman, or other states and regions."

McMullen also defends his company's use of the name, saying it's a brand more than it is a geographical description. He notes that Hershey's chocolate isn't all made in Pennsylvania.

"Our hope was we'd be able to grow the brand and it would represent the community," McMullen said, pointing out that the company wasn't profitable when the creamery purchased it, and it has since become the No. 2 cheese in the state. "We're trying to use a model that has been successful."

Winston Ross can be reached at [phone] or [e-mail].

BANDON RESOLUTION

Here are excerpts from the text of a proposed resolution, which will be discussed at the Bandon City Council meeting Monday:

A RESOLUTION of the mayor and city council of Bandon, Oregon, requiring the Tillamook County Creamery Association to completely relinquish use of the "Bandon" name and images of the Bandon-Coquille River Lighthouse in connection with the labeling, marketing, and sale of cheese manufactured in Tillamook, Oregon and Boardman, Oregon:

WHEREAS, Bandon was once the home of the Bandon Cheese Factory, a locally-owned manufacturer of handcrafted and hand-cheddared cheese, prized for its distinctive local flavor and fascinatingly unique batch-to-batch variation;

WHEREAS, Tillamook shut down the Bandon Cheese Factory after it received conditional approval for the "Bandon's" and Bandon-Coquille River Lighthouse image marks, but somehow concluded it could appropriate these geographically specific marks for labeling on its products manufactured in Tillamook, Oregon, and Boardman, Oregon, and possibly foreign states and regions;

WHEREAS, the product that Tillamook packages and markets as "Bandon" cheese is not and cannot be Bandon cheese because Tillamook, Oregon, and Boardman, Oregon, are hundreds of miles from Bandon, and located in climates and environments incapable of reproducing the distinctive Bandon flavor, and because Tillamook employs large-scale, industrial methods and recipes to produce a uniform commodity cheese unrelated to Bandon cheese,

WHEREAS, consumers have purchased Tillamook's imitation "Bandon Cheese" sincerely believing it was manufactured specifically in Bandon, Oregon;

WHEREAS, Tillamook has not proven a responsible custodian of the Bandon name, and established a troubling pattern of threats and overbroad assertions concerning its purported ownership of the Tillamook and Bandon names;

WHEREAS, if Tillamook's purported ownership of the Bandon name is not challenged, Tillamook might be in a position to compel present and future Bandon manufacturers to pay licensing fees to Tillamook or Tillamook's successor in interest;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Mayor and City Council that Tillamook is required to completely relinquish all use of the "Bandon" name and Bandon imagery in connection with Tillamook products manufactured in Tillamook, Boardman, and/or other foreign locations.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED

that the Oregon Department of Justice, Consumer Fraud Section, and its equivalent in all jurisdictions in which imitation Bandon cheese is being sold, be respectfully requested to investigate Tillamook's trade practices and sue and achieve restitution as authorized by law.