The city of San Francisco hosts
two restaurants namely ‘Chubby Noodle’ and ‘Fat Noodle’. When the owners of
Chubby heard of a restaurant to be named ‘Fat Noodle’ they sued them for
trademark infringement. Chubby claimed that Fat Noodle was “confusingly similar”
to its trademarked ‘Chubby Noodle”.
Chubby in its claims alleged that
the words ‘chubby’ and ‘fat’ are in fact synonyms and notes that both restaurants’ logos incorporate a stylized bowl with
noodles in the bowl. Fat Noodle, on the other hand, claims that the concept for
the restaurant was conceived in 2008 which was long before Chubby existed.
Now if the aim of Chubby is to block all restaurants with their names
which are synonyms of chubby, it is petty and silly to say the least. The
objective of trademarks is not to breed pettiness but to actually protect
unique creations. The San Francisco courts will have a huge “chow down” in
their Courts soon.
-- Nayanika Singhal
-- Nayanika Singhal
