The latest cockfight is shaping up to be a spicy one, as Zaxby's has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Louisville-based Joella's Hot Chicken over similar logos.

Zaxby's, the Athens, Georgia-based restaurant chain knows for its chicken, filed its lawsuit Jan. 22 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia against Joella's, a Louisville-based restaurant chain that also happens to specialize in chicken.

But the federal complaint is not about competing recipes, menus or sauces but rather about logos.

Zaxby's complaint says Joella's has begun using logos that "are confusingly similar to Zaxby's trademarked logos."

The company has held a registered trademark for its logo featuring "ZAXBY'S" written in blue above a white silhouette of a chicken that is inside of a red circle since October 2016, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The chicken chain has also used a trademarked logo similar to the aforementioned one but without the word "ZAXBY'S" since at least 2007, according its complaint.

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In October, Joella's successfully registered a trademark for a logo featuring a chicken that is not set within a circle, according to the federal trademark office.

The latest lawsuit also singles out a logo that Joella's filed a trademark application for last March that features the words "Joella's" and "Hot Chicken" in white text on a red chicken that is located within a yellow circle.

Those logos is too similar to the Zaxby's symbol and is taking business away from Zaxby's, according to the suit.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last year found that the Joella's logo targeted by Zaxby's was similar to a trademark held by an Ohio-based company called Yum Yum LLC. The trademark office issued a suspension of Joella's application last August pending the result of legal proceedings between Joella's and Yum Yum.

"The Zaxby's logos are inherently distinctive," the lawsuit states. "...The Zaxby's logos have gained such widespread consumer recognition and secondary meaning that they have also acquired distinctiveness."

Zaxby's said in a statement that "more than 300 local owners of Zaxby’s restaurants in communities across the country look to Zaxby’s Franchising LLC to protect and defend the intellectual property of the Zaxby’s brand and their licensed restaurants."

"As Zaxby’s franchisees, they work tirelessly to enrich lives in their restaurants and communities, and we will seek to protect the logos and trademarks that are critical to the success of their restaurants and the livelihoods of their families and team members," the company added.

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Joella's issued the following statement: "At Joella’s Hot Chicken, we hold our product and our reputation to a high standard. We take accusations such as these seriously, but are just as surprised as everyone else when looking at these two logos side-by-side. We are currently discussing next steps with our legal team. At this time, we cannot make any further comment in regard to this pending lawsuit."

In October, Zaxby's sent Joella's a cease and desist letter regarding the logo complaint and follow-up letter a few weeks later, but Joella's has continued to use its logos, according to the lawsuit.

The complaint notes that Joella's and Zaxby's serve similar food to customers in the same geographic regions, including Georgia — where Joella's opened four locations in 2019 in the Atlanta area — and the Louisville and Lexington areas of Kentucky.

Zaxby's, founded in 1990, has over 900 locations in 17 states.

Joella's, which launched in Louisville in 2015, has 15 locations in Kentucky, Georgia, Indiana, Florida and Ohio and, like Zaxby's, has plans to expand.

In its lawsuit, Zaxby's is asking for profits, damages and other fees as well as for Joella's to stop using its logos that are similar to the Zaxby's logos.

Zaxby's also requests in its lawsuit that Joella's destroys "any and all menus, packaging, containers, signs, packaging materials, printing plates, apparel, and advertising or promotional materials" that feature the "infringing" logos.

Reach Billy Kobin at bkobin@courierjournal.com or 502-582-7030. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/subscribe.