Pornhub Wants To Skewer Family-Owned Kebab Restaurant For Lookalike Logo
Image via Döner Haus
Pornhub has a bone to pick with Döner Haus, a small fast-casual restaurant in the East Village in Lower Manhattan that specializes in making German-style kebabs. The adult content site is exhibiting the eatery in front of the eyes of the law due to its similar orange and black logo.
Mirroring the style of Pornhub’s wordmark, the family-owned Döner Haus’s branding features a sans-serif against a black background, with the latter part of its name highlighted in orange.
In a letter sent by Pornhub’s attorney to Döner Haus last month, the NSFW goliath claimed the shop’s logo would likely deceive the public into thinking that the two brands were either affiliated or associated, per Chelsea News.
Confirming that it is being embroiled in a trademark infringement suit, the restaurant serving 100% halal meats argues in a press release that, contrary to Pornhub building a foundation for “unlimited free sex movies,” Döner Haus is all about “wholesome, family-oriented dining.”
With that said, the kebab joint does make a little room for mildly suggestive marketing, with orange neon letters on the storefront calling upon New Yorkers to dig into “Big Döner Energy” and “Get Stuffed.”
Döner Haus’s lawyers have snubbed Pornhub’s concerns of potential confusion as “fundamentally illogical,” asserting that both brands operate in different industries and serve different markets. Doubling down on the beef, a spokesperson for the restaurant tells Chelsea News that Pornhub delivers nothing close to the “nutritional value or taste” that Döner Haus dishes out.
Futurism points out the hypocrisy in the lawsuit, since Pornhub’s repository is full of parodies that bank on entertainment franchises.
To further erect the validity of their case, Döner Haus’s attorneys note that Pornhub does not own a color registration and hasn’t secured black or orange as trademarks. Rather, the adult site has simply described those hues “as a feature” of the logo, they argue.
“I don’t know about you, but I see nothing that your client offers that I would willingly put in my mouth,” add Döner Haus’s legal representatives.
[via Futurism, The Daily Beast, Chelsea News, PR Newswire, cover image via Döner Haus]
