When it comes to fried chicken recipes, it may be up to the courts to decide who can claim the title of original.

In a lawsuit filed Nov. 8 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, KFC accused Church’s Texas Chicken, another fast-food fried chicken purveyor, of violating its trademark rights by using the expression “Original recipe” in its advertising and promotions. .

Church’s use of the phrase “original recipe” in its own advertisements “is likely to create confusion in the marketplace and dilute the ORIGINAL RECIPE® mark,” according to the lawsuit.

Two recipes, one sentence

KFC said in its filing that Church’s began using the “original recipe” in its marketing in September, specifically the phrase “Our original recipe is back” in television and digital ads.

On October 24, KFC sent a letter to Church’s objecting to the use of the term “original recipe.” However, according to the complaint, this request was ignored and Church’s has not yet responded to the letter.

Church’s Texas Chicken declined to comment, citing active litigation.

As for the original recipe in question, “this combination of 11 herbs and spices is one of the food industry’s best-known and most iconic trade secrets,” according to the complaint.

Used in advertising since 1972, KFC holds two separate trademarks for the phrase.

The company did not respond to a request for comment on the complaint from USA TODAY, but a KFC spokesperson said Reuters Monday, “On behalf of all fried chicken lovers, we take it personally when another company attempts to lay claim to our iconic taste and branding,” adding “We remain committed to protecting our brand’s intellectual property and safeguard our customers’ experience.”

Max Hauptman is a trends reporter for USA TODAY. He can be contacted at [email protected]

This article was originally published on USA TODAY: KFC sues Church’s Chicken for using ‘original recipe’ in ads