SpongeBob SquarePants has problem with restaurant concept
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In the spirit of SpongeBob SquarePants’s favorite expletive: Tartar sauce!
ViacomCBS Inc., the cartoon maker, is suing a company that recently opened The Rusty Krab restaurant in Houston, claiming it's a rip off of The Krusty Krab, which is featured in the cartoon, according to a lawsuit filed this week and obtained by TMZ.
According to TMZ, the Houston restaurant stands accused of infringing on Viacom's 'SpongeBob' trademarks by using names, images, characters and re-creations from the show throughout its restaurant and on its menu.
TMZ points out that The Rusty Krab even advertises as "Houston’s VERY FIRST Spongebob Squarepants-inspired pop-up restaurant and bar!”
In its suit, Viacom claims all of Rusty Krab's marketing is meant to deceive SpongeBob fans into thinking it's officially affiliated with the show and leaves parents with an inauthentic experience and "purportedly unsanitary conditions and unsafe food."
