Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant in Wisconsin features a traditional sod roof, complete with grazing goats. The Johnson family lawyers have trademarked the animal/roof combination, and sue anyone who does the same.
Al Johnson opened the restaurant in 1949, but didn't put the sod roof in until 1973. A friend gave him a goat as a gag gift, and Al put him up on the roof. The goats are now a significant tourist draw for the restaurant.
"Any business that sells food and uses goats to lure customers may be violating the trademark, says Lori Meddings, the restaurant's lawyer. "The standard is, is there a likelihood of confusion?" she says."
"Al Johnson's is on constant lookout for other cloven-hooved intellectual-property violations. Mr. Johnson says the restaurant's Milwaukee law firm has sent letters to other alleged offenders, such as a gift shop in Wisconsin with a fake goat on its roof. It removed the ersatz ungulate."
Read the full story: Lars Johnson Has Goats on His Roof and a Stable of Lawyers to Prove It
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