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BUSINESSFriday 11 March 2016
Great Harvest Bread sues Panera Bread over trademark
JIM SALTER behalf of Great Harvest’s intentionally causes confu- used the phrase, but to are especially concerned
Associated Press more than 200 owner- sion. no avail. Panera has since about the alleged infringe-
ST. LOUIS (AP) — One res- operated stores, claims “We need to protect the sought a trademark for ment.
taurant chain that made the company received a investment being made “Food as it should be,” and Great Harvest says it spe-
its name off fresh bakery trademark in October 2014 by our individual small busi- Great Harvest has formally cializes in handcrafted
products is suing another, for its mantra, “Bread. The ness owners from being opposed it, Great Harvest breads with whole wheat
alleging federal trademark Way it ought to be.” drowned out or overrun by said. purchased from family-
infringement for use of The lawsuit says suburban a multi-million dollar nation- The Associated Press left owned farms.
what it calls a confusingly St. Louis-based Panera de- al advertising campaign,” messages seeking com-
similar advertising slogan. buted its “Food as it should Great Harvest president ment from Panera repre- Panera operates nearly
Great Harvest Bread Co. be” advertising campaign Eric Keshin said in a state- sentatives on Thursday. 2,000 bakery-cafes in 46
filed suit Thursday in federal just eight months later, in ment. A spokeswoman for Great states and Ontario, Can-
court in Charlotte, North June 2015. Great Harvest, Great Harvest said it asked Harvest says the suit was ada, under the Panera
Carolina, against Panera based in Dillon, Montana, Panera to suspend adver- filed in North Carolina be- Bread, St. Louis Bread Co.
Bread. The suit, filed on says the Panera campaign tising and promotion that cause franchisees there and Paradise Bakery &
Cafe names.q
An early rally fades, leaving US stocks mostly flat
BERNARD CONDON Trader Andrew Silverman works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Stocks swung analyst at currency trader
AP Business Writer between gains and losses on Thursday, then ended right back where they started. OANDA.
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks The bank’s efforts also un-
swung between gains and (AP Photo/Richard Drew) derlined the weakness of
losses on Thursday, then the 19-country eurozone
ended right back where The new European Central The interest rate paid to banks to remove the mon- and the desperation by
they started. Bank moves included a commercial banks to store ey and use it to make loans, monetary authorities to do
With seconds to close, the cut in interest rates, cheap money at the central bank but it’s an unprecedented something about it. The
Standard and Poor’s 500 loans to banks and several was cut further into nega- and controversial policy. policy announcements
eked out a gain, finishing new measures, such as tar- tive territory, to minus 0.4 “The central bank came ended up rattling investors
just 0.02 percent higher. geting corporate bonds in percent from minus 0.3 out all guns blazing,” said more than reassuring them.
Stocks rose at the open its bond-buying program. percent. The aim is to get Craig Erlam, senior market “The effectiveness of cen-
of trading, echoing a tral bank policy has be-
surge in markets in Europe, come less and less,” said
where the central bank Ernie Cecilia, chief invest-
announced a series of ment officer of Bryn Mawr
moves to jolt the region’s Trust. “There really isn’t a lot
economy to faster growth. of growth to show. Europe
Then, as central bank chief is really struggling.”
Mario Draghi spoke at a In the U.S., several com-
news conference, inves- panies lost ground after
tors started having second releasing disappointing
thoughts and stocks there earnings and outlooks. Ca-
sank, as did U.S. markets. nadian Solar sank 13 per-
The S&P 500 edged up 0.31 cent and Vail Resorts lost 4
points to end at 1,989.57. percent.
The Dow Jones industrial With nearly all companies
average gave up 5.23 out with fourth-quarter re-
points, less than 0.1 per- sults, earnings per share for
cent, to 16,995.13. It was up the S&P 500 are now esti-
as much as 130 points ear- mated to have fallen 4.2
lier. The Nasdaq composite percent from the same pe-
gave up 12.22 points, or 0.3 riod a year earlier, accord-
percent, to 4,662.16. ing to S&P Capital IQ.q
US budget deficit running lower this year than in 2015
MARTIN CRUTSINGER So far this budget year, the climbing by 24 percent to the Obama administration. decade, driven higher by
AP Economics Writer deficit stands at $353 bil- $544 billion this year. The The measured included rising costs for Social Secu-
WASHINGTON (AP) — The lion, down 8.7 percent from administration is even more many of the domestic rity and Medicare, which
federal government re- the same period in 2015. pessimistic, forecasting the spending increases that will come under pressure as
corded a budget deficit in That improvement is not deficit will climb to $616 bil- President Barack Obama millions of baby boomers
February only slightly larger expected to last. Both the lion this year. and Democrats in Con- retire.
than a year ago. For the Obama administration and In December, Congress gress had been seeking. For the current 2016 bud-
first five months of this bud- the Congressional Budget approved a budget pack- Meanwhile, Republicans get year, which began on
get year, the deficit is run- Office are forecasting defi- age that increased spend- won greater funding for Oct. 1, the government has
ning below the pace set cits for the full year that will ing by $1.14 trillion this year the military and permanent collected $1.25 trillion in
last year. be significantly higher than and will provide $680 billion tax cuts for business invest- revenue, an increase of 5.3
The Treasury Department last year’s $439.1 billion def- in tax cuts over the coming ment. percent from a year ago.
says the deficit in February icit, the lowest annual defi- decade. The agreement Both CBO and the admin- Government spending has
totaled $192.6 billion, up 0.1 cit in eight years. was part of a compromise istration see the deficit totaled $1.6 trillion, up 1.9
percent from a year ago. The CBO sees the deficit between Republicans and worsening over the next percent from a year ago.q
