It’s still October, but it’s not too early to get into a Thanksgiving atmosphere. Jimmy John’s is suing Halsted Street Deli (a local sandwich shop here in Chicago) over the names of two sandwiches. Jimmy John’s uses the sandwich names “Turkey Tom” and “Hunter’s Club” while Halsted Street Deli uses “Tom Turkey” and “Hunt Club”.
I don’t know. I understand that trademarks need to be defended, but just how is it that you can trademark a name like Turkey Tom anyway? Since Tom is the common name for a male turkey, and any turkey sub is likely to have similar ingredients, I just don’t see how you can lay claim to any sandwich that uses the words Tom and Turkey in them. The same logic seems to apply to Hunt Club as well.
When Jimmy John’s decided to use words that were already commonly associated with their products, it seems as if they were copying an already established common theme and have no right to claim that theme as their own just because they are now a commercial success. When I was involved in a new product design our lawyers advised us to make sure that the names were unique, perhaps making up words not in the language just to be sure we could get a defensible trademark.
If they had used the name “Turkey Jim” I could understand a trademark. Of course then we would be reading about Jimmy John’s being sued by Slim Jim’s over their turkey jerky products.
Since Jimmy John’s can’t make a decent sandwich, they survive by marketing instead. Perhaps they should focus on making good sandwiches instead of suing their way to profit.
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