Infowars’ Bone Broth Infringed On ‘Caveman’ Trademark: Suit

A food company claims the conspiracy-friendly website Infowars is using their trademarked “Caveman” name to peddle a bone broth supplement, according to a lawsuit filed last week that was read by Patch.

The paleo-diet company Caveman Foods filed a civil suit against Infowars in San Francisco on Nov. 13, claiming the company violated an unfair competition law and infringed on their trademark by using the valuable Caveman name.

Infowars is a conspiracy-driven website and radio program that has gained notoriety, in part, because founder Alex Jones, a supporter of President Trump, interviewed the then-candidate Trump on his program in 2015. The New York Times described Jones in June as a “conspiracy trafficker” who “believes that Sept. 11 was an ‘inside job’ and that the massacre of children at Sandy Hook was faked.”

In the suit, Caveman Foods said they coined the term “Caveman Diet” to brand their first product, a dietary supplement, which consisted of fruit, nuts, seeds, berries, vegetables and meat products. The product was first sold across the U.S. under the trademarked name in 2005, the suit claims.

The company expanded, and began to offer other food products like chicken jerky, trail mix and nutritional bars, all consistent with the “Caveman Diet” and marketed under the Caveman Foods brand. The suit alleges the products produced by the company have “attained goodwill among consumers nationally.”

Indeed, their products have been featured widely in the press, including in Business Insider and Golf Digest. Us Weekly also reported that actress Kate Hudson’s “go-to snack” is a Caveman bar.

But, according to the suit, all of this is threatened by the bone broth powder supplement that Jones advertises as “Caveman True Paleo Formula” on his Infowars radio program and sells online.

The supplements Jones sells were the subject of a recent “Last Week Tonight” with John Oliver segment, which included video of Jones drinking a glass of the bone broth powder supplement.

“Pour that in on a couple of ice cubes, and folks it tastes, when it’s creamy and thick, I think better than Ovaltine,” Jones says in the clip as he pours the liquid in a glass. “It has got all the bone broth, and so much more. This is why, the ancients, they believed had such better bones, were so much healthier. You can look it up.”

Because of the similar name, Caveman Foods claims in the suit it has, “suffered irreparable harm to its valuable Caveman-formative trademarks and its business reputation in the industry.”

Further, Caveman Foods alleges in the suit, that the similar names have created a likelihood of confusion among consumers, and accuses Infowars of “unlawful, unfair or fraudulent business act or practice and/or unfair, deceptive, untrue or misleading advertising.”

Caveman Foods is seeking to recoup monetary damages to their brand and to bar Infowars from using any “terms confusingly similar” to their brand name.

Infowars and a lawyer for Caveman Foods did not immediately return request for comment.

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