Buffett Makes Burger Eatery Change Name (ongoing copyright/trademark alert)

AP ^ | 4/9/2004 | Associated Press

[Dallas59]

FREDERICK, Md. - Paradise isn't lost but the cheeseburgers are gone.

Lawyers for singer Jimmy Buffett (news) gave a tiny roadside grill called Cheeseburgers 'n Paradise a choice: Change the name or face a trademark-violation lawsuit.

Owner Frenis Hoffman renamed the place Beef 'n Buns 'n Paradise this week, at least the second restaurant in two months to change its moniker under pressure from Buffett's lawyers.

"I'm feeling like a guppy in a tankful of sharks," Hoffman told The Frederick News-Post for a story published Thursday.

Lawyers for the famously laid-back singer accused the Hoffmans of using the name to ride the coattails of Buffett's 1978 hit, "Cheeseburger in Paradise," Hoffman said.

"I don't even care for his music," Hoffman said. "I like his lifestyle but not his music."

Buffett's representatives in Los Angeles didn't immediately return calls from The Associated Press.

Hoffman and his wife, Faye, opened their sandwich shop 10 years ago. Buffett launched his own chain of Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurants in August 2002.

[Dallas59]

I need to get in on this stuff. I wonder what I could sue for?

[gorush]

I didn't think Buffet was such an idiot...this was free advertising for him.

[FreeperinRATcage]

This is SOP for Buffett...his lawyers zealously go after anyone using "his" stuff without permission. There was a bar here called "Margaritaville Cafe" that ran afoul of his lawyers...changed their name to "The Margarita Cafe".

[Dallas59]

Shame.

[LouD]

Articles like this paint the big bad corporate entity (or in this case, star) as the bad guy. The fact is, if he didn't defend his trademarks, he'd lose them - Which is why Coca-Cola spends so much effort chasing people who describe a competing product as a "Coke."

Moreover, the restaurant owner is using a name that has substantial value, not by virtue of anything he did, but because of its association with Jimmy Buffet. It was entirely proper for JB's lawyers to enforce his rights to his property.

[MosesKnows]

Buffett launched his own chain of Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurants in August 2002

Doesn't this article beg the question; is there a Buffet's Cheeseburger in Paradise in Frederick, Maryland? Or perhaps, where is the nearest Cheeseburger in Paradise to Frederick, Maryland?

[AppyPappy]

Note: Jimmy is a big-time Democrat who constantly speaks out about "freedom" from people who want to control other people's behavior.

[jimbo123]

Jimmy Buffett sings for Clinton

[boris]

I love it that lawyers for Oleg Cassini (the designer) sent a "cease and desist" order to JPL for naming its spacecraft "Cassini".

Quite possibly Oleg is related to Giovanni Cassini who in 1684 discovered the gaps in the rings of Saturn...

--Boris

[boris]

I have a colleague with an Indiana twang or accent, if there is such a thing. One day we were discussing Clinton and he said (I distinctly heard it) "Donut from Hell." Turns out he was trying to say "Do not inhale."

The next day, he uttered, "First Hamburger in Heaven," or that is how it sounded. I have utterly no idea what he was trying to say.

--Boris

[Oatka]

Under "Beef 'n Buns" Hoffman should have put "Formerly 'Cheeseburgers 'n Paradise' but Jimmy Buffet's lawyers made me change it".

Great PR.

[JamesWilson]

where is the nearest Cheeseburger in Paradise to Frederick, Maryland?

Fredericksburg, VA