• February 14, 2011

A Midwestern QSR chain, Casey's General Stores of Ankeny, Iowa, has filed a petition in U.S. District Court asking for a jury trial in an effort to get a legal declaration that the term "footlong" (in the one-word, no hyphenation style) is generic and asking damages from Subway for making "frivolous" claims regarding the term.

Subway recently threatened to sue Casey's, which has 1,600 stores, for using "footlong" to describe new made-to-order sandwich offerings, but Casey's filed its suit first, according to the Des Moines Register.

Subway's success in recent years has been driven in no small part by its "$5 footlongs."  Subway's still-pending application for a trademark on "footlong" is being opposed by A&W, Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell, Long John Silver's and other restaurants, the Register reports.