Skulls, rolling pins & biscuits

Sometimes an infringement case makes you hungry, sometimes even when the case is about less appetizing logos.

In the case Vicious Biscuit versus Bad Biscuit, the dispute is about the ‘skull ‘n pins’ logos of two restaurants in the Southern United States.

As the business names indicate, the specialty of both restaurants is biscuits. A biscuit is a southern specialty. A kind of scone, but without eggs and much fluffier (‘extra fluffy and flaky’) and often combined with savoury dishes.

A local newspaper, The Post and Courier, reports on the case. Plaintiff Vicious Biscuit said it was the first to use a logo of a skull with a chef's hat and two rolling pins, a variation on the infamous pirate flag, one of the oldest logo’s around. After Vicious Biscuit noticed that Bad Biscuit had also started using a logo of a skull with a chef's toque and two rolling pins, Vicious Biscuit summoned Bad Biscuit to stop doing so immediately.

According to the newspaper, plaintiff Vicious Biscuit was unavailable for further comment, but the defendant chef of Bad Biscuit was willing to comment: "My logo represents me as a chef and 'just a fun guy that likes to do stuff that is sometimes dangerous in life.' By the latter, he was referring to his love of motorcycles. "I'm a chef who almost died, and that involves a skeleton."

An interesting argument, but possibly less convincing to a judge. Whether the case will actually go to trial is, however, unclear, as alleged infringer Bad Biscuit has since changed its logo. The skull and chef's hat are still on the website, but the crossed rolling pins are gone.