Tala Cook's Measure

Product Information

The claimant submitted that, by early 2013, when the defendants had commenced the acts complained of, the get-up of the Tala cups had become distinctive, and had been associated by traders and consumers only with the claimant. Informally, some older British home cooks did refer to cups for volume measurements of solids. But these cups were not a standard measuring cup created specifically for cooking: these were cups were designed expressly for drinking, and pressed informally into service for measuring purposes. However, cases in which the origin of a product was recognised regardless of the name attached to it were rare.

The claimant company was the successor to a long-established kitchenware manufacturer, which sold measuring cups in the United Kingdom under the brand name ‘Tala’ since 1992. Some Mexican recipes still are given in cups (called “taza”), as in “¼ de taza de leche” (¼ cup of milk.) Dry ingredients may even be given by Mexican recipes in cups, which is likely the American influence. Metric measuring cups The Intellectual Property and Enterprise Court (IPEC) has dismissed a claim for passing off brought by the company that makes and distributes the retro "Tala" measuring cup.There is passing off even if most of the people are not fooled most of the time but enough are for enough of the time. By 'enough' I mean a substantial number of the plaintiff's customers or potential customers deceived for there to be a real effect on the plaintiff's trade or goodwill." Please note that during particularly busy periods, it may take a little longer to receive your delivery and our carrier may attempt to deliver to you on a Saturday. Faster Delivery

And two quotes from Australian government officials show that they certainly believe that a metric measuring cup exists: Some metric purists (usually scientists in English-speaking countries) bristle at the mention of “metric cups” or “metric teaspoons” saying that they don’t exist. And in their labs, that is correct: you’ll never see such a measure in labs that use metric.To accurately measure liquids, you have to raise a measuring cup to eye level or crouch down to its level on the counter. The top measurement line is always a bit down from the rim, so that when you need to measure the full amount, it won’t spill over the edges. For everyday kitchen use purposes, you can figure on a standard 1 cup measuring cup as being 250 ml in the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Elizabeth David felt that informal French cup measurements were very clear once you understood French tableware:

The Deputy Judge concluded that whilst some consumers might be confused, the "conspicuous differences" between the cups meant that the number of people likely to be confused would be too low to satisfy the Interflora/Neutrogena test. As a result, the Deputy Judge did not consider the Defendants' acts to have caused any damage to the Claimant and dismissed the claim for passing off. Brits will refer to ½ pints in places where Americans might refer to a cup. Note though that an American pint is approximately 500 ml, so half an American point is 250 ml / 1 cup. A British pint is approximately 600 ml, and therefore a British half pint is 300 ml. If you’re a North American working with a British recipe and you see ½ pint, measure 10 oz (300 ml.) If you’re a Brit working with a North American recipe and you see half a pint or 1 cup, measure 8 oz. (250 ml) in volume. Despite selling the Tala cup for over 80 years and enjoying a near monopoly in its shape and appearance, this claimant failed to establish goodwill in the shape and get-up of its product.

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Before 2013, the company that makes and distributes the Tala cup, George East Housewares Limited (a successor to Taylor Law & Co Ltd), had a de facto monopoly in measuring cups of this shape. It also enjoyed a near monopoly in the cup's appearance since the early 1950's. The defendants denied that goodwill subsisted in the claimant’s get-up in respect of the Tala measuring cups, and denied passing off. Another novel design is that of a plastic cylinder fitting snugly around a sliding tube. Called a “Measure-All® Cup”, a “Push Up Cup” or a “Wonder Cup” (yes, it is starting to sound like something else, isn’t it?), you push the tube up or down inside the cylinder to the right measurement line you want, then fill. As you add ingredients, you raise the tube to line the measuring lines up with what you have already put in, and then measure the next ingredient in. In this way, it works a bit along the same principle of taring an adjustable electronic weigh scale. This design is used for solids, or semi-liquids like honey or mustard, but not liquids. They are particularly handy for ingredients like jam, peanut butter or butter that can otherwise be hard to get out of measuring cups: you just push the tube up, forcing the ingredient out of the top. Accessibility These cups are actually divided in two by a slanting piece of plastic, with the half behind the plastic shut off, out of use, and on the slanted divider inside are the measurements, though measurements also on the outside. Some people feel, though, that the angles created inside the cup make it hard to scrape ingredients out. In countries where dry ingredients are typically measured precisely using kitchen scales, cheat measuring cups do exist.