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Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Eat’n Park’s Smiley Cookie Trademark

Recently, we’ve received some attention regarding a lawsuit we filed to defend our trademark for the Smiley Cookie®, our famous brand icon that is known and loved by Eat’n Park fans across the country. Many people are surprised to learn that we do own the trademark for a smile on a cookie and the name “Smiley Cookie” referring to it. Under U.S. trademark law, we are required to defend our trademark or we lose it. So, while we aren’t a fan of lawsuits, we do occasionally file one to protect the rights to our trademark.

We’ve owned this trademark since the 1980’s, when we first introduced the Smiley Cookie in our restaurants. Smiley Cookies and the Smiley Cookie icon have since grown to be a huge part of the Eat’n Park brand. Smiley Cookies are one of the most recognizable icons in western Pennsylvania and are sold throughout the country at www.smileycookie.com. While we’d much prefer to spend our time focusing on serving our guests great food at a great price, we are required to defend our trademark to keep it.

We are a family owned, Pittsburgh-based company, and we make every effort to have a positive impact on our community. Our Smiley Cookies help us in that mission. We donate more than 200,000 of them to local non-profit organizations every year. These organizations use our Smiley Cookies at their community and fundraising events. We also give away more than a million Smiley Cookies each year to children in our restaurants. Some other ways that we support our community include donating 5% of our pre-tax profits to charity each year. For the last 31 years, we have helped to raise money for local children’s hospitals and have raised more than $7 million to help kids who need care. We pioneered the distribution system that allows farmers to sell produce to local restaurant chains. Many local farmers have credited Eat’n Park with helping to save their family businesses by creating a new market for their crops. Additionally, we have been recognized nationally by the Points of Light Foundation as one of the leading organizations in the country promoting volunteerism.

Despite the attention we’ve received for the defense of our trademark, we hope that it’s transparent to our guests that we have and always will remain focused on being a great community partner and a friendly, welcoming place to enjoy a delicious meal. The defense of our trademark is simply a necessary step in protecting our brand so that we may continue to serve you for the next 60+ years. Share

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