Fast food chain, Chicken Licken, recently obtained an interim
interdict in the KZN High Court against a competitor called Big
Jo's. The order required Big Jo's to stop using the
term Hot Wings for one of its menu items. Chicken Licken
claimed that it has trade mark rights to Hot Wings, having
used the term for many years, and having registered it as a trade
mark. In its court papers Chicken Licken claimed that the use of
the term Hot Wings by Big Jo's gave it 'a tremendous
springboard into the market place', with the result that Big
Jo's 'start out not on the first rung of the ladder, as
everyone else has done, but halfway up, riding on our
coat-tails'. It seems that Big Jo's did try to
avoid legal proceedings by offering to change the name of its menu
item from Hot Wings to Shisa Wings, but that
Chicken Licken turned this offer down. Why? Because 'shisa'
is the Zulu word for 'hot'.
