OFF BEAT: Lawsuit over chicken slogan smart enough for trial

A Nebraska-based poultry farmer’s lawsuit against industry giant Purdue Farms Inc. has enough meat on it to proceed to trial, a federal judge ruled last week.

In a lawsuit filed in February 2012 in the U.S. District Court of Nebraska, Waverly, Neb.-based Tecumseh Poultry L.L.C. accused Purdue of copying trademarked packaging and marketing concepts. According to the complaint, Purdue allegedly knew about the “Smart Chicken” trademark Tecumseh uses on some of its products before rolling out its own “Simply Smart” marketing campaign.

Tecumseh also claimed that Purdue’s slogan, “Taste the Purdue Difference,” is suspiciously similar to—and too-easily confused with—its tagline, “Taste the Air Chilled Difference.”

On July 24, U.S. District Court Judge John Gerrard denied a motion by Purdue to dismiss the lawsuit. However, his ruling was far from a ringing endorsement of Tecumseh’s case.

“The Court finds that Tecumseh's allegations of likely confusion, while far from compelling, are plausible on their face,” Judge Gerrard said in his ruling.