You could call it a chicken fight.
Perdue Farms is suing Empire Kosher Poultry for allegedly infringing on its trademark.
Perdue has long based its advertising campaign on a slogan made famous by owner and spokesman Frank Perdue: “It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken.”
Now Empire, in a new advertising campaign, is using the tag line, “It takes an even tougher man to make a kosher chicken” under a picture of a baleful Moses holding aloft the tablets of the Ten Commandments.
According to Perdue’s lawsuit, filed in federal district court here, Empire’s campaign constitutes an infringement of Perdue’s trademark and false advertising. Perdue also says the new advertisement will confuse consumers.
But the court did not agree and has refused to issue a temporary restraining order against Empire.
The ad campaign, created by New York advertising agency Folis, Devito & Verdi, appears in local newspapers and subway stations.
Empire says it plans to fight the lawsuit.
Warned Jim Geisz, Empire’s in-house legal counsel: “if Frank Perdue insists on pursuing this, we may have to feature him in our next set of ads, in a David and Goliath theme.”
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