Benihana Thinks Morons In A Hurry Will Be Confused By Rap Artist Benny Hunna's Name

from the can-i-get-that-rapped? dept

Trademarks, ostensibly to do with preventing customer confusion, sometimes get quite strange. Just in recent days, we've seen ESPN use a trademark to magically turn a Saturday into a Thursday, we've seen a serious discussion occur over whether or not people might confuse chicken with kale, and all the breweries everywhere are fighting over trademark quite possibly because they're drunk. Sigh.

But if you just can't get your silly-trademark-dispute fill, get ready for dessert: Benihana, a restaurant chain, is challenging Benny Hodges' trademark application for his rapper stage name "Benny Hunna," suggesting that customers looking for Japanese fusion food might accidentally end up at a hip hop concert.
Mississippi rapper Benny Hodges is currently up against the Florida-based teppanyaki chain Benihana in a legal battle over the right to trademark his would-be stage name, “Benny Hunna,” because the chain alleges that the similarity would create “confusion in the marketplace,” reports TMZ. Now, protectors of the Benihana legacy have reportedly challenged Hodge’s application to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, which would surely get in the way of the rapper’s alleged plans to “build an entertainment empire called Benny Hunna TV.”
What moron in what kind of a hurry is going to somehow think that Benny Hunna is in any way an extension of the Benihana restaurant chain? In what way are these two entities operating within the same marketplace? Also, who would actually think that filing this kind of trademark opposition is in any way productive, endearing, or good business? It's like the lawyers were just bored or something, because Benny Hunna isn't even a thing in the rap game yet.
At 290 Twitter followers and a scant 490 views on his latest music video, Hodges has a long way to go, but we wish him well on his road to building his Benny Hunna entertainment empire.
Bet you he has more followers and views now that Benihana decided to give him, and his disputed name, all this free publicity. Way to go, guys.
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Filed Under: benihana, benny hunna, likelihood of confusion, moron in a hurry, trademark
Companies: benihana


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  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2014 @ 5:25pm

    Oh that is bullsh*t...

    There goes my million dollar rap career with the stage name Tico Bull, Birger Kong or M.C-Dollas out the window.
    Thanks alot Benihana.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Roger Strong (profile), 31 Dec 2014 @ 8:41pm

      Re: Oh that is bullsh*t...

      A rapper needs to establish his street cred with some legal problems. It also gives them something to rap about.

      I look forward to hearing what rhymes with "Patent & Trademark Office", and finding out what "bitches and hoes" think about teppanyaki.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Pixelation, 31 Dec 2014 @ 7:09pm

    Benny Hunna sure has some great chops!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Spaceman Spiff (profile), 31 Dec 2014 @ 7:55pm

    This is what happens

    This is what happens when we let the lawyers out of the barn - they sh!t on everybody!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2014 @ 10:54pm

    my loony bun is fine benny lava

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 1 Jan 2015 @ 9:58am

    Saint Hunna would be saddened by this.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunna

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Jan 2015 @ 9:09am

    Why just the other day I said to the SO, let's go out to dinner. We thought oriental would be very nice so off we go to Benihana.

    Little did we know of the recent attempt to pirate the restaurant name and to our dismay we ended up at a rap concert instead of dinner.

    I never really considered myself to be an idiot in a hurry - till that night. I'm still upset about the guy selling a fatty, why would I want to buy a fat person?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Jan 2015 @ 7:46pm

    To be fair, the morons in a hurry standard was set way before we experienced a colossal increase of uneducated ignorant morons in a hurry with their heads down looking at what is laughingly referred to as smart phones.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 4 Jan 2015 @ 10:48am

      Re:

      Arguably, the Moron In A Hurry Test may be even more applicable today than that of the pre-smartphone era. For example, people following the GPS mapping right into a lake, or some who believe internet hoaxes.

      I doubt there are more morons today than there were yesterday, they simply have new ways of showing it.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    John Fenderson (profile), 5 Jan 2015 @ 8:36am

    Benihana still exists??

    A couple of decades ago, all of the Benihanas in my state closed down. I'd just assumed that the chain ceased to be.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 5 Jan 2015 @ 7:54pm

    Hahaha

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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