The Keebler Elves may make some fine crackers and cookies inside their massive treehouse, but Kraft Foods is hoping to force the Kellogg-owned Keebler and Sandies to find a new way to keep their products from going stale.

Kraft filed suit in Chicago federal court Wednesday with the claim that Kellogg “improperly uses one of its patents,” Reuters reported.

The dispute stems from the resealable packaging that Kellogg uses (and customers like). Kraft claims it's too similar to its “Snack ‘n Seal” packaging.

Another food packaging design dispute is moving through the Chicago federal court system. An inventor took H.J. Heinz Co. to court last summer claiming that the company's “Dip & Squeeze” packaging too closely resembled his patented design.

Kellogg and Kraft may be competing on another front this week as well.Continue reading...

Avatar is the number one film for a second continuous week, meaning the year will end with the sci-fi tale dominating box office numbers. As brandcameo noted, though Avatar is groundbreaking in the realm of special effects, from a product placement perspective, the film is forgettable. Director James Cameron created an alternative future where brands were not just unimportant, but largely nonexistent. And that's noteworthy because a quarter century ago, Cameron was a product placement pioneer.Continue reading...