The "pizza wars"

A discussion of the "pizza wars" between Pizza Hut and Papa Johns International Inc., which landed in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently, is presented. The law governing false advertising claims under Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act is well settled. To obtain monetary damages or equitable relief in the form of an injunction, a plaintiff must demonstrate that the commercial advertisement or promotion is either literally false, or if the advertisement is not literally false, that it is likely to mislead and confuse consumers. If the statement is shown to be misleading, the plaintiff must also introduce evidence of the statement's impact on consumers, referred to as materiality. Reduced to its essence, the question is whether the evidence viewed in the most favorable light to Pizza Hut established that Papa John's slogan "Better Ingredients. Better Pizza" was misleading and therefore violated the Lanham Act.