Hardee's, Chicago Firm Battle Over Burger Chef Name

(Thursday, July 12, 2007) - River West Brands of Chicago is looking to resurrect the Burger Chef chain, and is trying to snatch the trademark right off St. Louis-based Hardee's plate.

The company, which revitalizes dormant brands and then runs them or licenses them, filed a petition with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to cancel the mark, which is owned by Hardee's.

River West cites the "abandonment" of the trademark, a charge that many felt led Hardee's in April to bring back the Big Shef burger for a limited time.

Mark Thomann, chief executive of River West, talks of the move as forming "a good partnership." Hardee's spokesman Jeff Mokel sees it as a property grab and says his company "will contest this petition."Advertisement
To complicate matters in this time of Internet savvy and dependence, neither company seems to own Burgerchef.com. That domain is listed as belonging to Domain Name Sales Corp., a company run by Franky Schilling.

On the Domain Name Sales website, Schilling is described as "one of a handful of old-school domain name wildcat investors and operators. He oversees several Internet related corporations and chairs a cooperative investment group/trust. Franky is a likeable easygoing guy who resides permanently in the Cayman Islands. Franky mixes one heck of a rum-runner."

Mokel said, "We use the marks in our restaurants on our wall advertising pieces, we feature some Burger Chef stuff, and we've done this Big Shef promotion even since the launch of our Thickburger menu."

Both companies have hired large Chicago law firms over the matter.

Hardee's bought the chain in the mid-1980s.

"Man, I loved those places," said Eric Riess, a lawyer with Greensfelder Hemker & Gale familiar with trademark laws. "They were the first to come up with the 'works bar,' and as kids we would go in and get a one-patty burger and add five pounds of tomatoes and two pounds of lettuce, and we were fixed for the day."

Among other brands brought back by River West are Eagle Snacks, Bonwit Teller, Salon Selectives, Brim Coffee and Nuprin headache reliever.

Burger Chef could prove a tougher acquisition.

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