Place your bets on Derby-Pie - It's a registered winner  
BY HELEN MORE 
The Charlotte Observer, 1989

Some things can't be ignored. For instance, a recipe for a chocolate nut creation called Derby-Pie may bring an unpleasant surprise if it shows up in print anywhere, including a community cookbook.
    
You may recall that several months ago, a Warsaw reader asked for this recipe. As the replies began pouring in, a letter arrived from Karen Kelly Bonnewell of Apex.
    
"I thought it might be of interest to note that the pie's name is a registered trademark," said Ms. Bonnewell. "The people who own the trademark can call what they make Derby-Pie, the rest of us can't. I wanted to pass that information along in case a church or organization considers publishing its own cookbook, they should not use the term. They will have to use a name that has a similar ring to it."
    
Ms. Bonnewell is absolutely right.
    
To follow up on this I called Alan Rupp, owner of Kern's Kitchen, a wholesale bakery in Louisville, Ky. Mr. Rupp also owns the trademark Derby-Pie - much like registered trademarks for products such as Coca-Cola or Sanka.
    
"You can call a chocolate nut pie recipe anything you'd like," says Mr. Rupp. The only catch is that the title cannot include the word "derby."
    
This whole story began with Mr. Rupp's grandparents, Walter and Leaudra Kern, when they managed The Melrose Inn in Prospect, Ky. The couple wanted to develop a specialty, something uniquely theirs. During the early l950s they enlisted the help of their son, George, and the three began baking and experimenting. What they came up with was a delicious, frozen, chocolate walnut pie whose intense flavor was fully released when served warm. The recipe has been a secret ever since.  "The name was pulled out of a hat one night," says Mr. Rupp.
    
The Kerns began making and selling the fully prepared pie to up-scale restaurants in the Louisville area. They left The Melrose Inn in the early 1960s but kept the wholesale pie business. Eventually, several friends and business contacts suggested that the couple protect the name of the pie. So in 1968 the name received state and federal trademark registration. This year, says Mr. Rupp, the registration is being renewed.
    
Mr. Rupp came into the business in 1973 to help his elderly grandparents and has been up to his elbows in pies ever since.
    
"I was the only baker until four years ago," he says.
     
Now there are four bakers, but only one outside the family - sworn to secrecy - knows the pie recipe. 
    
The biggest pie season, says Mr. Rupp, isn't Christmas. The Kentucky Derby festivities in May bring out chocoholics by the droves. During the 10-day celebration 10,000 of the pies will be sold in Louisville. The pies are also handled through specialty stores and several national mail-order houses.
    
When a dessert is that popular it's probably inevitable that cooks will try to copy the pie. That doesn't bother Mr. Rupp, but the copying of the name does.
    
"The bigger we get the more problems we have [with trademark violations]," says Mr. Rupp. "Some of it, we believe, is unknowing infringement."
     
Usually a simple phone call straightens out the matter, he says. Some cases, however, require a cease and desist letter from Mr. Rupp's lawyer. A few cases have resulted in lawsuits.
    
"We don't want that," says Mr. Rupp.