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Pez Peeved Over Giant Candy Dispenser

Museum Faces Legal Battle With Pez Makers

POSTED: 11:51 am EDT July 1, 2009
UPDATED: 2:59 pm EDT July 1, 2009

A legal battle is heating up over a giant Pez dispenser, San Francisco television KTVU reported.

The couple who built the giant candy dispenser said their creation stands as a favorite attraction for the thousands of people who come to their Pez museum every year.

But the company that makes Pez says the giant dispenser should be destroyed.

The giant Pez is located at the Museum of Pez Memorabilia in Burlingame, Calif.

Originally, it was called the Pez Museum, but the name was changed after the candy company objected.

And now, the home of the biggest collection of Pez dispensers in the world is being sued for trademark infringement.

Museum creator Gary Doss said he's puzzled.

"I don't know if you need to be authorized to make a work of art and that's what this is. It's one piece. It's not for sale; I'm not selling it to anybody," he said. "We're not making thousands more."

But Pez claims the museum was selling dispensers altered to bear the slogans "Obama '08 for Pezident" and "McCain for Pezident." The lawsuit says Pez never makes products "bearing political messages of any kind."

Elliott Glass, a visitor from Erie, Pa., said he thinks it's kind of an honor to Pez. "It's kind of ridiculous to sue them because you come here to just see all things Pez and buy Pez."

Doss said roughly 10,000 people a year visit his Burlingame store front.

A Palo Alto lawyer representing Pez declined to comment.

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