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ORLANDO, FLA.-Atlanta-based Hooters of America Inc. plans to appeal last month's district court verdict that 14-unit Ker's WingHouse Bar & Grill does not infringe on the Hooters trademark by dressing its female servers in sexually provocative uniforms.
Hooters of America in early 2003 had sued WingHouse in U.S. District Court here, asking for $4 million in lost profits on the grounds that WingHouse had copied several features of the brand, including the tight-fitting shorts and T-shirts worn by Hooters' female servers as well as its parchment menus, table-top paper towel holders and the popular calendars showcasing servers in bikini swimsuits.
But following a "directed" verdict by U.S. District Judge Anne Conway, rejecting Hooters' daims, the jury found in favor of Largo, Fla.-based WingHouse's counterclaim seeking $ 1.2 million from Hooters of America. The counterclaim alleged that Hooters was trying to use the courts to crush WingHousc as a competitor.
From a legal perspective the Hooters-WingHouse case has been viewed as a test of trade dress definition for restaurant operators and, in particular, a test of the meaning of the term "functional" as it applies to server uniforms and even to staff gender. WingHouse's attorneys had argued that Hooters' servers and their attire were...