By Julian Lee
THE battle to tap into customers' fond, sugary childhood memories is set to go to court after Krispy Kreme ignored a warning by Arnott's to stop selling a line of doughnuts it claims is a rip-off its 100-year-old Iced VoVo brand.
Krispy Kreme Australia, the Australian-owned offshoot of the American brand, has been selling a line of "Fair Dinkum" doughnuts including the Iced Dough-Vo - not to be mistaken for the biscuit of choice of the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd.
Lawyers for Arnott's, a wholly-owned American company since 1997, argue the doughnuts, which are topped with pink icing and sprinkled with coconut, are "clearly deceptively similar" to Iced VoVos, and set Krispy Kreme a deadline of 5pm last night to end its promotion.
The Iced VoVo has enjoyed a renaissance since Mr Rudd mentioned he likes nothing better than to wind down with the biscuit and a cup of tea. Arnott's returned the compliment, sending a box to Mr Rudd's office.
Yesterday Krispy Kreme's chief executive, John McGuigan, said the promotion was meant as a "lighthearted way of bringing back a bit of nostalgia" during the recession.
He denied it was trading on the VoVo name. "The only commonality between the two is the word Vo and I don't know what that means," he said. "I think our customers will be able to tell the difference between a doughnut and a biscuit." Arnott's was not prepared to comment on its intentions if Krispy Kreme did not stop its promotion.
A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister's office said that the Iced VoVo was "still a prime ministerial favourite" but was unsure if he would go for the Iced Dough-Vo. "I have never seen him eat one [a doughnut]." She said Mr Rudd had only received one box of VoVos from Arnott's. A Woolworths spokesman said sales of VoVos has been steadily climbing since Mr Rudd's comments.