Wendy’s accused of trade mark infringement

Jaymo’s Sauces, LLC (‘Jaymo’s’), an Illinois Limited Liability Corporation with its principal place of business located in Dunlap, Illinois, has filed a complaint in the US District Court for the Central District of Illinois for damages and injunctive relief against The Wendy’s Company (‘Wendy’s’), a Delaware Corporation i.e. the famous burger chain which has its principal place of business located in Dublin, Ohio. The former has accused the latter of trade mark infringement.

According to the lawsuit, Jaymo’s acquired the common law trade mark for the ‘S’Awesome’ mark for its all-purpose sauces on 22 September 2015, when it began commercially selling its ‘S’Awesome’ sauces in Illinois. Furthermore, the complaint reads that in October 2017, Wendy’s started advertising and selling chicken tenders with a sauce called ‘S’Awesome’ sauce. The said sauce was advertised by the Defendant in a national television commercial during the Major League Baseball’s World Series broadcast on the Fox Broadcasting Company. Subsequently, ‘[w]ithin days of the airing of that commercial Jaymo’s received multiple telephone calls and personal inquiries from friends and customers expressing confusion and asking if Jaymo’s was somehow affiliated with Wendy’s’ or if the Plaintiff’s business had been sold to the Defendant.

Jaymo’s stated that it sent cease and desist correspondence to Wendy’s pertaining to their use of the ‘S’Awesome’ sauce trade mark in early December 2017, but this proved to be ineffective. In additional to stopping the Defendant from employing the said trade mark, the Plaintiff is seeking monetary damages in excess of $75,000.00.

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