Last year a friend moved to Montpelier VT and I went to visit. Walking downtown I noticed t-shirts that said "Eat More Kale". Turns out there's a big push to eat kale in Montpelier. I have another friend who loves kale and I picked her up a t-shirt. Now I see that this t-shirt is the source of a stupid trademark lawsuit.
Kale fan vows to fight Chick-fil-A "A folk artist expanding his home business built around the words “eat more kale” says he’s ready to fight root-to-feather to protect his phrase from what he sees as an assault by Chick-fil-A, which holds the trademark to the phrase “eat mor chikin.”"
My understanding of trademark law is limited but I think I know two relevant points. First, a trademark holder, Chick-fil-A must defend their trademark or risk losing it. It's not just idle. If the trademark is known generically for a class of products then the holder can lose the trademark. Examples are aspirin, escalator and zipper. Others have come close but the owners have fought and held on to them, such as Kleenex and Band-Aid. So if Chick-fil-A knew of an infringement and didn't fight, that fact could be used against them in another trademark lawsuit.
Second, in order for it to be infringement, someone would have to be confused by the use of the trademark. I seriously doubt someone is going to confuse "Eat More Kale" with "eat mor chikin". So the end result is that that big giant company sues tiny little business and if they can afford the fight, the tiny little business wins, though that is a big if. Ain't the law great?
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