Jack in the Box restaurant chain has announced it is suing cryptocurrency exchange FTX for illegally copying or derived its Moon Man mascot form its Jack mascot and doing harm to the Jack in the Box brand.
Jack in the Box filed a federal lawsuit in the Northern District of California this Wednesday alleging that FTXs Moon Man, aka Lou Nar has a spherical, white head, also attached to a talking actor. The actor has blue-dotted eyes and a nose. He also smiles, which is strikingly like Jack. According to the suit, both change their facial expressions and clothes during ads and appearances. Moon Man is, however, a far inferior version Jack, the restaurant chain argues and is tarnishing Jacks image to consumers and/or blurring consumers association with FTXs Moon Man and Jack.
The company cited tweets about Moon Man ads that were shown during Major League Baseball games:
Viewers of the baseball game shared their thoughts on Twitter about who the big head was. One user posted a picture showing Jack and another said, "Oh look, it's Walmart Jack in a Box!". Others made comments like, "Is it a dirty Jack in a box thing?", and Jack in a Box's drugged-up cousin. All of these statements show that viewers are identifying Jack with the Moon Man. One user on Twitter even posted a public comment to @FTX_Official saying, Hey, @FTX_Official your mascot doesn't look like the Moon. He reminds me of Jack-In-The Box with skin cancer.
According to the lawsuit Jack in the Box sent FTX a cease and desist letter on October 15, notifying the exchange that it was infringing upon JITBs intellectual properties and diluting its trademarks.
FTX responded by saying it would continue to use Moon Man in its advertising, the lawsuit claims. Jack in the Box only has narrow protection for the behatted ping pong-headed clown that exploded from a box in order to sell burgers.
Jack in the Box claims that the Jack mascot was released for the first time in 1951. It has gone through several iterations. Jack started out as a clown-like spherical head. He sat on top of drive-thru boxes in order to help customers get into the new concept. The suit later stated that the Jack mascot became more clown-like with green hair and a large, rainbow collar. In 1995, the company changed the mascot into the humorous, no-nonsense version that resembles an adult male with his curvy smile, large white head, blue eyes and nose.
Law360 was the first to report on the suit. Neither Jack in the Box, nor FTX responded to The Verge's requests for comment.
Jack in the Box claims that FTX infringes on its copyright, diluted its trademark and is seeking unspecified damages.
