IRVINE, Calif. — El Pollo Loco Inc. announced Aug. 1 that a Laredo, Texas, jury has reached a verdict in a trademark lawsuit filed by El Pollo Loco-Mexico against El Pollo Loco Inc. in 2004.
July 26, 2007, the jury returned a verdict finding damages for El Pollo Loco-Mexico, based on theories under Mexican law, in the approximate amount of $22 million.
Before a final judgment is rendered, the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Texas has requested that the parties file post-trial motions. The motions must be filed by Aug. 9, 2007.
The contractual rights to use the name El Pollo Loco, and certain related trademarks and intellectual property in Mexico, were assigned to El Pollo Loco Inc. in 1996, pursuant to an agreement between El Pollo Loco Inc. and a company controlled by Juan Francisco Ochoa, founder of the first El Pollo Loco in Mexico and the United States.
In March of 2004, El Pollo Loco-Mexico filed a lawsuit alleging that El Pollo Loco Inc. breached its agreement in Mexico by failing to exploit the trademarks and to develop new restaurants there.
