NEWARK (Bloomberg) — Ben & Jerry's, the premium ice cream maker, was sued for trademark infringement by the daughter of the designer of the "Chunky Monkey" cartoon character used to promote a flavour bearing the same name.The company violated legal agreements with artist Pauline Comanor by using Chunky Monkey to promote lip balm and by printing a misleading story on packaging about the character's origin, the daughter claimed. Comanor died in 2005.

"Defendants are violating the agreements by marketing, packaging and selling a lip balm product using the mark Chunky Monkey," according to a May 15 complaint in federal court in Trenton, New Jersey. The agreements outlined permissible uses of the character, the daughter said. Ben & Jerry's paid Comanor at least $80,000 to settle earlier trademark disputes, according to the agreements. Chunky Monkey is the third-most-popular flavor of Ben & Jerry's, a unit of Unilever NV.

Rob Michalak, a spokesman for South Burlington, Vermont-based Ben & Jerry's, had no immediate comment.

Comanor, who lived in New Jersey, billed herself as "the world's fastest cartoonist" when she created the character in 1973 and used it to promote plush toy animals, the daughter said in her complaint.