CINCINNATI (AP) -- Consumer products maker Procter & Gamble Co. has expanded its patent lawsuit against Kraft Foods Inc., naming Kraft's Tassimo brand as a patent infringer of packaging used for P&G's Folgers brand.
The expansion, filed by P&G in U.S. district court in Cincinnati, relates to a suit filed last month that alleged Kraft's Maxwell House Coffee has copied a Folgers package.
It follows similar infringement complaints that the makers of the rival U.S. household coffee brands filed against each other last year.
P&G has alleged in its cases that Maxwell House's new four-pound plastic container infringes upon Folgers' lightweight plastic container introduced five years ago.
P&G spokeswoman Jen Becker said the amended lawsuit adds the single-serve Tassimo machines, such as those found in hotel rooms.
The lawsuit seeks to stop Kraft Foods from selling the Maxwell House and Tassimo products that it alleges infringe on its patents. It also asks for damages to be awarded.
Kraft general counsel Marc Firestone said in a statement that the company is challenging P&G's patent before the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.
"P&G is determined to monopolize the market on plastic packaging for roast and ground coffee," he said. "Kraft does not believe P&G has the right to do so."
The lawsuit addition comes as P&G is selling the Folgers brand to J.M. Smucker Co. The jam maker's shareholders approved the $2.95 billion all-stock transaction earlier this month, roughly doubling the size of their company.
Becker said the deal with Smucker to sell the Folgers brand has not yet been finalized and the patents in question are the intellectual property of P&G.
She said it would be determined later how the ownership change would affect the litigation.