The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit recently ruled in favor of the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) in a lawsuit waged by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). In its decision, the court rejected an HSUS legal challenge to the National Pork Board’s federally approved purchase of trademarks associated with the “Pork: The Other White Meat” campaign from NPPC.
HSUS attorneys claimed the animal activist group and others were injured because proceeds from the transaction were misappropriated by the National Pork Board. The D.C. Circuit found HSUS and other plaintiffs in the case failed to demonstrate harm from the transaction and associated payments.
NPPC President David Herring from Lillington, NC, said dismissal of the case is a win for American pork producers.
“The real misappropriation of funds is HSUS’s continued efforts to fundraise under false pretenses while using its proceeds to attack farmers dedicated to feeding billions of people at home and abroad,” he said.