Rudy’s Bar-B-Q Settles Infringement Lawsuit Against Copycat Competitor
The owners of Rudy’s “Country Store” and Bar-B-Q restaurants have resolved a copyright and trade dress dispute with the creators of a Missouri-based competitor called Woody’s. The Woody’s operators and Tri-State Construction, the architect and general contractor responsible for building the restaurant, have agreed to change the restaurant’s look and feel so that it is no longer a virtual copy of Rudy’s. The Woody’s defendants also agreed to abandon their plans to open other restaurants substantially similar to Rudy’s.According to a lawsuit filed by Rudy’s last year in the United States District Court in Austin, the Woody’s creators convinced a former assistant manager of a Rudy’s franchise store to assist them in obtaining and using confidential information from Rudy’s Bar-B-Q in order to create a restaurant nearly identical to Rudy’s. The Woody’s restaurant opened in Joplin, Mo. in December 2004. The lawsuit also alleged that the defendants improperly enticed Rudy’s employees to work at the Woody’s location.
“We have spent years developing system standards that attract our customers,” said Lynn Ford, President of Rudy’s Texas Bar-B-Q, LLC. “As we expand the concept, it is important to us that we maintain the level of quality our customers expect from Rudy’s. The Woody’s restaurant was a visual copy of our concept.”
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