MANHATTAN, KS – A fried chicken chain based on a character from the movie musical Grease has been stopped before even opening its doors. Kenickie was the sidekick to Danny Zuko’s lead, and KFC (short for Kentucky Fried Chicken) is a major fast food outlet.
“The people from Yum! Brands took great exception to my name, corporate identity, and a bunch of other stuff I’d have to pay a lawyer to explain to me,” said Dan Wrightley, a first- and possibly last-time restaurateur. “Thought it would be fun to have a place where people could have some fried chicken and quote some of Kenickie’s great lines. I guess not. I thought this was America.”
Wrightley has his geography correct, but was not versed in trademark law. In addition to a barrage of cease-and-desist orders from KFC, he also learned that there was a band using the very same name.
He briefly considered contacting the (now defunct) band to ask if they were interested in doing some kind of cross-promotion thing, but he used the last of his operating funds to put several thousand printed buckets into storage.
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