Good news to report out of Chandler: The battle of the bulge -- as we referred to it in a post in February -- has been won, and the Chandler-based Heart Attack Grill came out the victor.
You may recall that back in February the cardio-crippling beef joint filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming that a restaurant in Florida was guilty of trademark infringement for operating with a similar, anti-health theme.
Last week, the owners of Florida-based Heart Stoppers Sports Grill -- the restaurant accused of ripping off the Heart Attack Grill -- agreed to a settlement in the case that requires the restaurant to remove the word "heart" from the name of the restaurant and remove medically themed gimmicks like wheelchairs, waitresses dressed as nurses, and all medical signs from the restaurant.
Meals like The Pace Maker burger and The Coronary chicken sandwich will also be forced to ditch the heart-disease-related titles because of the settlement.
The Heart Attack Grill claimed in the lawsuit that Heart Stoppers was "operating a medically themed hamburger grill and restaurant with high caloric food products which was identical to or substantially identical to Heart Attack Grill's medically themed hamburger grill with high caloric food."
The Heart Attack Grill wasn't seeking any monetary damages, just that "an order stopping all use of medical themes and equipment used in connection with Defendants' establishment, including its tradename," be issued.
Heart Attack seems to have gotten its wish.
No money was awarded in the settlement, but Heart Stoppers will no longer be able to operate with the medical theme.
With the two restaurants separated by about 2,000 miles, it may seem absurd for the Heart Attack Grill in Chandler to get all pissy over a similar restaurant in Florida.
However, the real reason for the lawsuit -- as far as we can tell -- and the ultimate "fuck you" to the folks at Heart Stoppers is: According to the Web site On Point News.com, Heart Attack Grill is in the process of opening a restaurant in Orlando, Florida, as part of its expansion plans
Which is good news for Florida health nuts, who have probably never experienced the slow death satisfaction caused by a four-patty cheeseburger.
