Controversy over Ellen Svinhufvud's cake - when only the recipe and trademark remained

Finns are familiar with a delicious almond cream cake called Ellen Svinhufvudin kakku.

It was tasted at the parties at the presidential palace, because Ellen was the wife of the the president, Per Svinhufvud. A small bakery - Stella Konditoria - made this traditional cake,

whose recipe was originally given to the pastry shop by Ellen Svinhufvud. In addition, the cake was a registered trademark for Stella since 1994. Stockmann, Finland's most famous department store,had been buying this cake from Stella for two decades and it was important part of the department store's selection.

In the spring of 2006, Stockmann announced that it would no longer buy Ellen Svinhufvud cakes. At the same time it launched its own, very similar cake called Sans Rival, made by

Cake Emperors Bakery. Stella claimed that Sans Rival was a copy and almost identical

compared to their cake. The dispute went to the market court, which made a decision in 2008.

The Market Court confirmed this: the cakes were in terms of structure, appearance, size,

Almost identical in coating and color, and therefore interchangeable.

The Market Court ruled that Stockmann was allowed to continue selling the Sans Rival cake, but not allowed to market it at service counters without a clear distinction Ellen Svinhufvud -

The decision was reinforced with a 250,000 euro fine.

This did not save the bakery, however, and the bankruptcy came just before the Market Court's decision. Loosing Stockmann´s purchasing was a huge financial blow, as at its peak, Ellen Svinhufvud cakes brought in for a 400,000 Euro annual turnover. Stella produced approximately 30,000 cakes per year, the majority of which went to Stockmann. When Stockmann stopped purchasing, Stella's turnover collapsed.

The long legal process added to the difficulties, as the dispute lasted for more than two years and caused significant legal costs. The bankruptcy estate continued the proceedings on behalf of Stella after the bankruptcy. Probably the recipe and the trademark (i.e. the intellectual property rights) were the most valuable things left.

So what then? Billnäs Ironworks brought almond cream cake to the market and it has been available from certain stores.- The rights to manufacture the cake and the trademark were purchased from Stella's bankruptcy estate. The amount was considerable , but the sum is not made public. So even though the material and tangible things were lost in the battle, the intangible and immaterial rights, such as recipy and trademark, remained and had value.