• MSNBC/AP, Tuesday, July 3, 2007 11:15 AM

A federal judge has refused to order Jack in the Box to pull cheeky ads that suggest rival company CKE Restaurants -- which operates Carl's Jr. and Hardee's -- uses cow anuses to make its Angus beef hamburgers.

CKE sued Jack In The Box in May over two TV ads, including one in which executives laugh hysterically at the word "Angus" and another where the chain's mascot, Jack -- a man with a round clown head and pointy nose -- is asked to point to a diagram of a cow and show where Angus meat comes from. "I'd rather not," Jack replies.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Guilford rejected a CKE survey of 404 people that found 36% thought Angus beef comes from the rump of a cow and said that he wanted to see more evidence of actual harm before barring the ads. The company says it might try again for an injunction before a trial.

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