According to Sony Pictures, there’s a sports-themed restaurant in Fort Worth, Texas where the waitresses are known as ‘Smokin’ Hotties’ and wear midriff- and cleavage-bearing crop tops and short skirts. The name of this establishment is ‘Ricky Bobby Sports Saloon & Restaurant,’ which is of concern to the studio behind the 2006 Will Ferrell comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. On Thursday, Sony filed a trademark lawsuit in Texas federal court. The lawsuit cites a July 29, 2013 article in the Dallas Observer as evidence that reps for the saloon company used ‘Ricky Bobby’ as a direct reference to the film. One official is cited by the newspaper as saying that proper names can’t be trademarked ‘ which Sony says is an ‘erroneous belief.’ But the studio’s complaint is mostly built upon making the case that Rick’s Cabaret is misleading consumers about the source of origin for the Ricky Bobby Sports Saloon. According to the lawsuit, Sony wasn’t asked permission by Rick’s Cabaret. Sony has licensed Talladega rights to others. For example, Sony says it authorized NASCAR driver Kurt Busch to use an ‘image and likeness’ of Ricky Bobby’s ‘Me’ car in 2012 and then a Wonder Bread-sponsored car the following year. Sony demands an injunction, the restaurant’s profits, forfeiture of web domain names and unspecified punitive and exemplary damages.(Hollywood Reporter)(3-11-2014)
