Chipotle filed an interesting trademark infringement lawsuit against Sweetgreen on Tuesday. At first blush, it seemed like Chipotle was arguing they are the only company in the world who can have a Chipotle chicken burrito bowl.
Chipotle argues that Sweetgreen’s “Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bowl” has the same ingredients as Chipotle’s burrito bows. Does that mean that any dish that uses Chipotle in the name would be trademark infringement?
Chipotle is also apparently upset that Sweetgreens has a “National Burrito Day.” I don’t think Chipotle has a monopoly on “national” promotion days.
Chipotle argues that the use of all capital letters and white letters on a red background infringes on their trademarks. They had apparently reached out to Sweetgreen to ask if they could use lower case letters or a description such as “with chipotle flavoring.” Chipotle helpfully suggested that “chicken bowl with chipotle” would be more appropriate. This does seem somewhat reasonable and maybe does suggest that Sweetgreen knows what it’s doing. But I can’t help but feel like this is a big company beating up on a little company.
What do you think? Does Chipotle have a case? Leave a comment below!
(Also, Q’Doba sounds really good right now!)
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