Sanford sues to sell pencils worldwide

CHICAGO, April 12 (UPI) -- U.S. writing-products maker Sanford LP has filed a lawsuit asking a judge to erase a 52-year-old agreement that keeps it from selling pencils worldwide.

The lawsuit by the $2 billion Oak Brook, Ill., division of Newell Rubbermaid Co. alleges Swiss competitor Caran d'Ache SA broke their longstanding agreement to sell in only half the world, Crain's Chicago Business reported.

The agreement has also lost its original intent, the lawsuit filed in Chicago federal court alleged.

The agreement, reached with Sanford predecessor Eagle Pencil Co. in 1955, sought to prevent customer confusion between Sanford's Prismacolor and Caran d'Ache's Prismalo pencil brands, Crain's reported.

Sanford -- which also makes Sharpie markers and Paper Mate products -- would sell its pencils in the United States, Canada, the Philippines, South Africa and Latin America except Argentina and Brazil. Caran d'Ache had the rest of the world.

But Caran d'Ache "routinely" sold Prismalo products in Sanford's territories, the lawsuit said.

Complicating matters, competitors selling Prisma-named products sell anywhere and neither Sanford nor Caran d'Ache has stopped them, Sanford said. So the agreement's intent is lost and the deal should be nullified, Sanford said.