Hamburglar cleared in burger brand theft There are few simple pleasures I miss more from California than stopping by In-N-Out Burger for a double-double with fries and a shake. The fries are fresh-cut, the employee uniform includes a ridiculously large safety pin, and you can feel sly by ordering off the not-so-secret secret menu. Alas, In-N-Out has declined to expand outside of California, Nevada and Arizona. That hasn’t stopped them from suing a guy who decided to take his own swing at the business model. Chadders in American Fork, Utah, mimicked everything down to the secret menu, with only a few negligible changes. Although this is technically a battle over “trade dress,” the more important question to me is this: If a business refuses to expand on its successful model, should that bar it from being tried anywhere else in the world? (For the record, this isn’t the first In-N-Out clone.) I personally agree with Brand Story’s suggestion that In-N-Out respond by opening its own location across the street from the upstarts. Then we all win. —Posted by David Griner

August 9, 2007 in Griner | Permalink

Comments

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Animal-style is the only way to go.

Oh, and get sauteed onions on your burger, too.

Posted by: Bob | Aug 10, 2007 9:03:26 AM

it's not even the second in-n-out clone.

some one in texas tried a few yeas ago, too.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_14_36/ai_84651595

Posted by: also bob | Aug 10, 2007 9:45:53 AM

David, you are an idot. Wait. I take that back. In fact, I'll take your line of reasoning and launch AdWeek / AdFreak in China, India and Russia. Since you apparently refuse to expand into those markets, I'll just take your copyrights and trademarks to my bank.

Posted by: Steve McNamara | Aug 11, 2007 12:12:17 AM

Anyone in the world (government censors allowing) can drop by 24 hours a day to enjoy the AdFreak brand experience. I think a more specific example would be if Starbucks had remained only on the West Coast. Would that bar anyone from serving grande dark roasts in a clean, WASP-friendly environment?

I'm not so naive as to think you shouldn't get to keep your copyrights, and I do believe this guy went a bit overboard in the trade-dress department. But it does raise the question of where you define the line between outright theft and good-old entrepreneurial imitation.

Posted by: DavidGriner | Aug 11, 2007 11:07:51 AM

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