According to Viacom, associating any Spongebob marks with alcohol is a violation of its licensing terms for any product, much less an unauthorized pop-up. In a lawsuit filed in the United States District Court on August 11, Viacom alleges that the pop-up is “a bad-faith attempt to capitalize on the success of the SpongeBob SquarePants franchise,” arguing that the restaurant’s branding is specifically targeted towards children despite serving a menu of mostly alcoholic beverages. The media conglomerate has also accused the pop-up of illegal cybersquatting for using the phrase “rusty krab” in its domain name. Patrick Star is referred to as Pinky, and Spongebob himself is known instead as “The Big Sponge.”Ĭourt filings from Viacom’s lawyers assert that these cheeky tweaks are not enough to distinguish the pop-up as a separate entity from the cartoon and the massive amount of officially-branded merchandise that has spun off from the twenty-year-old show. Instead of Squidward, the Rusty Krab’s dour cashier is named Octoword. These pop-ups try to circumvent copyright laws with sideways references to the original inspiration - Rusty Krab is of course a reference to Krusty Krab, the fictional fast food restaurant on the show. The Rusty Krab, which opened at 711 North Main earlier this year, bills itself as a Spongebob Squarepants-inspired experience for the ultimate Bikini Bottom fan, complete with multi-room photo ops, daily activities like scavenger hunts, and tropical food and cocktails with names like chum nuggets (buffalo chicken bites) and Pinky the Star’s Hideaway, a drink make with peach Ciroc, Malibu and Sprite. A Downtown Houston pop-up bar is being sued by Viacom, the parent company of Nickelodeon, over allegations of trademark infringement regarding the bar’s kitschy Spongebob Squarepants theme.
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