Fired Hershey IP Attorney Sues Alleging Race, Age, Sex Bias

The Hershey Co. falsely told its 52-year-old senior counsel for global intellectual property that his job was eliminated, a new lawsuit alleges.

Kurt Ehresman, who is white, learned about three months later that Hershey hired a black, female lawyer under 40 into the same position, the complaint, filed Feb. 6 with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, says. Unlike Ehresman, she was only a trademark attorney, not a licensed registered patent lawyer, the lawsuit says.

The move came roughly five years after Hershey recruited him to be “the first licensed practice attorney” in the candymaker’s more ...