3 Silly Years Later, Chik-Fil-A Loses Trademark Dispute Over Kale

from the eat-more-crow dept

A long time ago, in a Techdirt far, far away...well, okay, it was only three years ago and it was right here at the same Techdirt, but Mike wrote about Chik-Fil-A, known purveyors of de-feathered chicken bits, opposing a trademark registration by an artist in Vermont for "Eat more kale." Why a company that sells dead fowl thought it had an issue of customer confusion on its hands over some t-shirts that suggest people consume more tasteless leaves is beyond me, but it happened. And, now, three damned years later, the legal battle is over and kale has defeated chickens.

Bo Muller-Moore said Thursday that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted his application to trademark "eat more kale," a phrase he says promotes local agriculture. He silk-screens the phrase on T-shirts and sweatshirts and prints them on bumper stickers that are common in Vermont and beyond.

When asked what he felt caused the trademark office to approve his application, Muller-Moore, of Montpelier, said, "Your guess is as good as mine." The news was posted on the office's website Tuesday. "I'd like to think that maybe some persistence and polite defiance, you know, and proving to them that we were in it for the long haul," he said. "If it took us a decade, we're going to fight for a decade."
Instead, it only took a 3rd of a decade, which sounds better, but renders me to the exact same frustrating question of what the hell? Chicken is meat and kale isn't. Anyone confused by the concepts of chicken and kale is not a moron in a hurry, they're criminally insane. For it to take years to resolve this is absolutely asinine. It's quite nice to hear that Muller-Moore was willing to stand on principle rather than cave to the demands of a corporate entity, but come on, this can't be what the framers of trademark law had in mind.
"In our case, we said we're not going to cease and desist until a federal judge tells us to and as far as the trademark goes, I never wavered from the idea that I deserved protection from copycat artists," Muller-Moore said.
Easy, champ, we were just starting to like you. One wonders how much money was spent on the legal process to get us to a 3-year-conclusion that kale and chicken are significantly different?

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Filed Under: eat more kale, kale, trademark
Companies: chik-fil-a


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  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Dec 2014 @ 9:30pm

    Maybe it took that long because of the break they took to be anti gay.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Coyne Tibbets (profile), 15 Dec 2014 @ 10:32pm

    Maybe it took that long to expound the difference between "leaf" and "feather".

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 16 Dec 2014 @ 12:55am

    Mike Masnick hates IP law.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 16 Dec 2014 @ 12:59am

      Re:

      I can only assume at this point that these comments are being made in an ironic fashion, on the assumption that they are amusing. They are not.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 16 Dec 2014 @ 3:45am

        Re: Re:

        Sadly, IP fanboys are really that stupid. I wouldn't be surprised if the usual trolls were rubbing their hands with glee, thinking they've scored another hit on "mean ol' Masnick".

        link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Ninja (profile), 16 Dec 2014 @ 1:16am

      Re:

      Actually it seems he hates both kale and chickens. And likes to cross dress as Timothy Geigner (with an added Darth Vader helmet for added confusion).

      Since I made more sense than you I'm voting myself insightful.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Dan J. (profile), 16 Dec 2014 @ 4:46am

      Re:

      Mike may or may not hate IP law but he's clearly biased against kale. "Tasteless leaves?" Kale is certainly not tasteless and if the dish served is in fact tasteless that's clearly an issue with the cook preparing the dish, not an inherent issue with kale. Let's put the blame where it properly belong and leave personal biases and prejudices out of the discussion.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        art guerrilla (profile), 16 Dec 2014 @ 5:28am

        Re: Re:

        you are right, it isn't tasteless, it is bitter and nasty...
        8^)
        broccoli rules ! ! !

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          JoeCool (profile), 16 Dec 2014 @ 10:18am

          Re: Re: Re:

          I was about to post the same thing. Kale is really nasty tasting. Even the rabbits around here won't eat that crap. Give me spinach any time, just get that nasty kale out of here!

          link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        Dark Helmet (profile), 16 Dec 2014 @ 7:23am

        Re: Re:

        Or maybe Mike didn't even write the post? Who can possibly know?

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        John Fenderson (profile), 16 Dec 2014 @ 8:44am

        Re: Re:

        "Kale is certainly not tasteless"

        True. Kale has a very noticeable taste. And it's NASTY.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Unanimous Cow Herd, 16 Dec 2014 @ 8:11am

      Re: Mike Masnick hates IP law.

      Any sane person would. What's your point?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Ninja (profile), 16 Dec 2014 @ 1:18am

    I'd be kind of ashamed to be listed as the lawyer or the judge of this shit because... 3-year contemplation on the wonders and the difference of chicken, kale and t-shirts is lame.

    And I don't even know what kale is.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Michael, 16 Dec 2014 @ 5:03am

    I've never eaten at a Chik-Fil-A, but I would have to assume that the confusion stems from their chicken being far more kale-like than I would want it to be.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 16 Dec 2014 @ 6:29am

    The real winners

    In any case, the lawyers won.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Reality bites, 16 Dec 2014 @ 6:47am

    It would have taken 3 years to explain it to the judge.

    They were lucky they got a smart judge, the decade comment would have been based on a default judge, dumber than a post.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 16 Dec 2014 @ 8:01am

    What does this say about Chick-Fil-A's customers?

    If Chick-Fil-A is so concerned that their customer base can confuse chicken with kale, is this really implying that Chick-Fil-A thinks their customer base is nothing more than an uneducated group of color-blind, taste-impeded retards?

    To be clear, I don't think that, but then again, I wasn't making the argument that chicken and kale can be confused.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Stuart Gray, 16 Dec 2014 @ 8:01am

    Good

    I really like Chik-Fil-A. Great food and wonderful service. They seriously needed to lose this case though.
    Happy everything worked out in the end. Just wish justice could be quicker.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 16 Dec 2014 @ 8:37am

    Now it's time for the much needed Bacon vs. Turkey Bacon (which is actually turkey strips, and a fact that turkey is having a serious identity crisis)

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      John Fenderson (profile), 16 Dec 2014 @ 9:19am

      Re:

      I love them both, but turkey bacon has a special benefit: since it's been precooked, you can eat it right out of the package without cooking -- which makes it very easy to completely gross out anyone who watches you gobble down the "raw" bacon.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    terry_allen (profile), 16 Dec 2014 @ 8:53am

    Clearly Chik-Fil-A thought it had copyrighted the phrase "Eat more..."

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Deadman Typing, 16 Dec 2014 @ 11:16am

    vote

    "
    One wonders how much money was spent on the legal process to get us to a 3-year-conclusion that kale and chicken are significantly different?
    "
    Can we vote the original author as funny?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Angela100 (profile), 16 Dec 2014 @ 12:07pm

    instead of being snarky about Bo's comments about not ceasing and desisting, you should be reporting the bigger story which is little guys should not be intimidated and run out of business. Bo proved that persistence can pay off. Bo made the most of the publicity by reaching out to new customers, myself included, that chose to follow him on fb and support him by buying products. In this time, we have gotten to know Bo, his wife and kids and you know what? we really like them.
    He started this process because there were rip off artists out there making his t-shirts and making it look like they were from his company when they were not. Now that to me is what the laws are supposed to protect trademarks for.
    I am so pleased that Bo has finally won this case. The lesson? Don't let yourself get pushed around.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2014 @ 7:01am

    Three Years Is not Unusual

    Everyone seems to keep pointing at 3 years and proclaiming it was for determining that chicken and kale are different. However, typical time from filing to allowance without opposition is around two years, though I have seen it go as long as 2.5 years. So, the time to resolve the opposition was likely about a year. Most of that was likely because of correspondence between the parties as opposed to actual action.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 17 Dec 2014 @ 10:49am

      Re: Three Years Is not Unusual

      It may not be "unusual" - however, that doesn't make it any less ridiculous.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Crazy Canuck, 17 Dec 2014 @ 7:23am

    It's probably something more simple.

    Assuming a person is not adding to their overall food intake, "Eat more kale" would mean "Eat less chicken." Just another example of a company trying to defend their business model. =P

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    sara (profile), 17 Feb 2015 @ 12:27pm

    According to USPTO records, the eat more kale trademark has not been issued. Why is it being reported that it has been issued?

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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