Two Michigan men who sued Taco Bell, accusing it of stealing their idea for an advertising campaign featuring a talking Chihuahua, will receive and additional $11.8 million, a federal judge has ordered.
The ruling, filed last week, brings the total award to $41.9 million. Last June, a jury awarded $30 million to Thomas Rinks and Joseph Shields, after a legal battle that dragged on for five years. (Xtra, June 10)
Yum! Brands, the parent of Taco Bell, plans to appeal the award.
The two men filed the suit in January 1998, claiming that Taco Bell had asked them to create a mascot for a new advertising campaign. Rink and Shields, who in 1995 founded marketing company Wrench LLC, met with Taco Bell officials in 1996 and 1997 to develop the concept of the talking dog. The restaurant chain broke off talks and moved forward to use the Chihuahua character without compensating Rinks and Shields, according to news reports.
Taco Bell, Irvine, CA, has said that the Chihuahua character was created by ad agency TBWA/Chiat/Day in Los Angeles.
The campaign, started in July 1997 and now defunct, became wildly popular and branched out to include licensing toys, T-shirts and other promotional products.
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