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Pizza Hut, Inc. v. Papa John’s International

Pizza Hut, Inc. v. Papa John’s International. U.S. Court of Appeals 5 th Circuit 2000. Facts. Pizza Hut False claim of superior ingredients Undertook campaign to improve its pizza using more and better quality ingredients. Papa John’s

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Pizza Hut, Inc. v. Papa John’s International

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  1. Pizza Hut, Inc. v.Papa John’s International U.S. Court of Appeals 5th Circuit 2000

  2. Facts

  3. Pizza Hut • False claim of superior ingredients • Undertook campaign to improve its pizza • using more and better quality ingredients

  4. Papa John’s • further emphasized message of superiority by focusing on specific ingredients • Claimed “fresh pack” method of producing tomato paste was superior to “most big chains” and “most pizza delivery chains” • Adopted new method of manufacturing dough (using ozonated filtered water) specifically for purpose of drawing negative comparisons to Pizza Hut

  5. Papa John’s • continued to use “Better Ingredients, Better Pizza” in connection with more specific claims about sauce and dough

  6. Pizza Hut • sued to enjoin Papa John’s from • deceptive claims regarding sauce and crust • using slogan

  7. District Court • Sauce and dough superiority claims false • “ambiguous and self-laudatory, consistent with the legal definition of non-actionable puffing” • By combining it with other, false claims, slogan became tainted • Made claim of superiority quantifiable • Enjoined its use

  8. Court of Appeals • “Best Pizza Under One Roof” (Pizza Hut) • “Nobody Delivers Better” (Dominos) • “Best Pizza on the Block” (Donatos) • “Best Pizza Ever” (Pizza Inn)

  9. “The Best Beer in America” • “The most advanced home gaming system in the universe”

  10. Held: • Ads making misleading claims about superiority of dough and sauce tainted general claim of superiority • 31 of 278 ads • Rejected claim that misleading specific claims became “encoded” in consumers’ mind • Reversed

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