MOVIES - Feb. 6, 1987

Paramount Pictures Corp. is unhappy with a fledgling Salem, Ill., cookie company for selling a snack called Tribbles, the same name given to fuzzy aliens in an episode of the “Star Trek” television series. Thomas Hannon, head of the cookie company, said he is amused and upset by Paramount’s effort to revoke the trademark held by Hannon’s Bitesize International Inc. “We’ll have to be watching for UFOs now,” Hannon told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “If you compare a furry little toy with a bag of cookies, I think even Paramount lawyers could tell the difference.” He said Paramount did not contest the Tribbles food trademark when it was proposed. Jerry Sherman, a Paramount spokesman in New York, said the issue is simple: “ ‘Star Trek’ is a valuable property, and we need to protect it.”