California company settles Barefoot Contessa lawsuit

A California company sued because it allegedly sold unauthorized look-alikes of Food Network star Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa frozen dinners has agreed to a settlement, courts documents filed Thursday show.

The agreement with OFI Imports Inc. includes an "undisclosed monetary settlement," a spokesman for the East Hampton-based Garten said. Her lawyers filed the lawsuit on Feb. 17 in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, accusing OFI of trademark infringement.

She had obtained a temporary retraining order to stop the sales and sought damages, including any profits from unauthorized sales.

An OFI executive reached by phone declined to provide further comment. In a settlement, a defendant neither admits nor denies the charges.

As part of the settlement, OFI must permanently stop making or selling products that "would be likely to create consumer confusion," the settlement states. And it must remove from its customer locations any remaining Barefoot Contessa frozen dinners and OFI's Contessa Chef Inspired frozen dinners.

OFI bought the assets of the defunct Pennsylvania-based Contessa Premium Foods, which was licensed to manufacture Barefoot Contessa frozen dinners. But OFI was unable to acquire the licensing rights for the brand. It had permission to sell remaining inventory, but the suit said the company sold products beyond an agreed period and manufactured new look-alikes called Contessa Chef Inspired.