Friday, April 26, 2013

"Eat mor chikin" vs "Eat More Kale," in a trademark dispute.

This is a good overview of how trademark disputes sometimes go when involving a small company and a big company with a federally registered mark. The small company uses "Eat More Kale" in commerce, and has tried to obtain a federal registration on the mark. Since at least 2006, Chick-fil-A has tried to get the company to stop using the mark. Most recently, the company was preliminarily denied registration of the mark, on the basis of a likelihood of confusion with Chick-fil-A's mark.

Ultimately, Chick-fil-A will likely win, if nothing else because of the coffers available to it. Big companies can sustain long legal battles much better than small companies can. The company contends that it will continue selling tee shirts with the "Eat More Kale" mark on it, which may result in an infringement lawsuit by Chick-fil-A. At this point, Chick-fil-A is just opposing the company's registration. If the company does not get the registration and continues using the mark, Chick-fil-A likely will end up suing for infringement.

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