Biz Journal’s reports..
One of Zaxby’s fast-growing fast-food competitors is arguing the trademark for the Georgia chicken chain’s logo should be canceled.
In a filing submitted before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia on Dec. 11, attorneys for Joella’s IP LLC and Schulte Restaurant Group LLC argued the trademark for Zaxby’s logo, which features a white silhouette of a chicken inside a red circle, is unenforceable. The filing cites a section of U.S. law that states any trademark may be canceled if the mark “has become generic, functional or abandoned, or the mark was obtained or is being used fraudulently.”
Attorneys for Joella’s and Schulte say they have identified “numerous logos or other imagery used by chicken restaurants that are substantially similar to, and in some cases nearly identical to, Zaxby’s chicken image mark,” thus rendering the mark generic. (Read the filing here.)
Joella’s and Schulte’s motion to file a counterclaim is in response to a lawsuit filed by Zaxby’s Franchising LLC against Joella’s in January 2020, in which, Zaxby’s claimed Louisville, Ky.-based Joella’s Hot Chicken is “using logos that are confusingly similar to Zaxby’s trademarked logos.” The Joella’s logo in question features a red silhouette of a chicken inside a yellow circle. (Read Zaxby’s initial complaint here.)
Co-founders Zach McLeroy and Tony Townley opened the first Zaxby’s in Statesboro in 1991. The restaurant, featuring fried chicken sandwiches, tenders, wings and a variety of sauces, among other menu items, has since exploded into a major chain with more than 900 locations in 17 states, the majority of which are franchised. In November, Zaxby’s announced a “significant” investment from Goldman Sachs that will be used to “accelerate our growth and expansion into a national brand.”
Louisville-based EAP Restaurant Concepts launched Joella’s in 2015. In 2018, EAP sold to Louisville-based Schulte Restaurant Group, which now operates 18 locations in the Southeast and Midwest, with at least one more scheduled to open in 2020. The chain moved into Georgia in 2019 with four metro Atlanta outposts in Cumberland, Kennesaw, Woodstock and Newnan. While Joella’s markets itself as a restaurant brand specializing in Nashville-style hot chicken, its menu is similar to Zaxby’s.
Full article at https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2020/12/15/zaxbys-joellas-lawsuit-logo-trademark.html
