Yes, Aaron Chess Lichtman says he has tried the chicken at Kenny Rogers Roasters. And, indeed, he does not like it. But that is largely beside the point.

The reason he put a hand-lettered sign saying "Bad Food" in his second-floor window on Broadway at 71st Street, he said, was because the new fast-food restaurant below his law office had surrounded the office's window with an awning, bright lights and an illuminated sign. "They made it appear as if I was their dining room," Mr. Lichtman said in an interview yesterday.

Whether it was the adornments or the food Mr. Lichtman did not like about the chicken restaurant, Justice Charles E. Ramos of State Supreme Court in Manhattan ruled on Monday that Mr. Lichtman had a First Amendment right to keep his sign where it was.

"Were Lichtman to stand outside Roasters, physically approach and scream at customers that they would suffer from abdominal distention after eating Roasters' food, the balance might be tipped more favorably to Roasters," the judge wrote. "However, in this case, First Amendment rights must not be compromised merely because the plaintiff may suffer some loss of profit."