Eat Less Chicken?

Hello Readers,

I was surprised to discover that Chick-fil-a (the fast food restaurant chain), which has an advertising campaign including the slogan "Eat Mor Chikin", is suing a small-scale t-shirt designer from Vermont.

Curiously, the t-shirt design that spurred the lawsuit simply has the words "Eat More Kale", which is spelled correctly and is displayed in a different typeface (aka font) than the scratchy Chick-fil-a advertisements. As such, it does seem like Chick-fil-a should have any case at all. However, according to the website created by the t-shirt designer, the fast food chain has apparently sued (and won and/or settled with) 30 other organizations that have used the phrase "Eat More _________".

As a result, I have to ask would it also be copyright infringement for the t-shirt designer to start making shirts that simply say "Eat Less Chicken"?  While it probably would not be, it would be unfortunate to see the t-shirt maker step into another opportunity for a lawsuit under the Food Libel Laws.

Instead, the t-shirt designer has partnered with a documentary filmmaker to bring the issue to light. You can find more information on Treehugger and on the documentary website for "A Defiant Dude".

Below, I have included an amusing Youtube video that was posted by filmmaker, and for those of you who have not heard of kale before I suggest looking for it in your local grocery store or farmer's market. It is a leafy vegetable that will be somewhere near the lettuce and spinach. If your local grocer does not carry it, ask about them to order some!

Enjoy,

Sean