Anyone who's spent any time in Southern California knows the above logo, the icon of the Ruby's Diner chain, that OC brand that has managed to stay good despite spreading nationwide. But they have yet to reach Tennessee, so imagine my surprise when I was flipping through channels in Nashville and saw the following logo flash on my Holiday Inn Express television.
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What in the name of “Rocky Top” is going on? Is the Ruby's girl some archetypal image ala the doofus who eventually became Alfred E. Neuman and copyrighted by MAD Magazine? Or did this diner (which I didn't visit, but whose commercial I saw feature the girl) just blatantly rip it off? Ruby's story is that the logo is modeled after the founder's mother, and I believe it 100%–and the logo is registered. Let's see what these Volunteers say when the Ruby's legal team makes a phone call…
