Percy Crosby, creator of the popular "Skippy" comic strip (1923-1945), which had been adapted into the 1929 novel Skippy, the daytime, children's radio serial Skippy (1932-1935), and the Oscar-winning 1931 film Skippy, had trademarked the name "Skippy" in 1925. When in 1932 the  Alameda, California, food packer Joseph L. Rosefield began to sell its newly developed hydrogenated peanut butter, which it labeled "Skippy" without permission, Crosby successfully had the trademark invalidated in 1934. Rosefield persisted using the name and after Crosby was committed to an asylum, and after the passage in 1946 of the Lanham Act, Rosefield was granted rights to the trademark.
In 1955, Rosefield sold the brand to Best Foods. Its successor companies, most recently Unilever and Hormel, claim rights to the trademark over the objection of Crosby's heirs, and much litigation has occurred on this point over the decades, some of which has continued into the 2000s.