Donut Wars In Spain

A long-running war over who has the right to use the term ‘doughnuts’ in Spain is heading for a final showdown in the country’s Supreme Court.Battle commenced back in 2006 when industrial baker Panrico took the first steps in protecting its registered brand name Donuts, accusing rival Europastry-Fripan of “infringing its industrial property rights”.

The final showdown looked to have taken place back in July when a Barcelona provincial court ruled against Europastry, Spain’s biggest producers of frozen dough products.The company was ordered to pay Panrico EUR 33,713 in damages, which is understood to have already been handed over, although it was cleared of having acted unfairly.

But now the Barcelona court has agreed that the last judgement should be made by the country’s Supreme Court in what looks set to be a final showdown over a word and brand name that both derive from the English language.

Europastry argues that the term doughnut is the generic name for the product in English-speaking countries, and as such is the description for a whole group of products that includes Panrico’s Donuts. The company claims it would be misleading to classify the round cakes as roscos or rosquillas, which are the most similar traditional products in Spain.

Panrico, which is ironically owned by a British investment group, Apax Partners, has held the rights to the brand name Donuts for more than 40 years. It also has registered Donut and Doghnuts, the latter spelt without the first u that appears in the English generic name.