Chi-Chi's was a popular Mexican restaurant chain from 1975 to 2004. It ceased to exist within the United States following a 2003 Hepatitis A outbreak that began at one of its locations in suburban Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Chi-Chi's last owner while still in business in the U.S. was Prandium Inc., which had filed for bankruptcy several times, including in 1993 as Restaurant Enterprises Group Inc. and in 2002 as Prandium. On October 8, 2003, Chi-Chi's and Koo Koo Roo, another Prandium subsidiary, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy themselves.
In November 2003, a month after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Chi-Chi's was hit with the largest hepatitis A outbreak in U.S. history, with at least four deaths and 660 other victims of illness in the Pittsburgh area, including high school students who caught the disease from the original victims. The hepatitis was traced back to green onions at the Chi-Chi's at Beaver Valley Mall in Monaca, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles (48 km) northwest of Pittsburgh. Chi-Chi's settled the hepatitis A lawsuits by July 2004. At the time the suits were settled, Chi-Chi's only had 65 restaurants, less than half of the number from only four years before.
In August 2004, Outback Steakhouse bid $42.5 million for the rights to buy its choice of Chi-Chi's 76 properties, but did not purchase the Chi-Chi's name, operations, or recipes. On the weekend of September 18, 2004, Chi-Chi's closed all 65 of its remaining restaurants.
.....from Wikipedia, which for something like this is authoritative enough for me.
-"BB"-
Not surprised that they didn't buy the recipes or the name......... name was associated with Hep A and the recipes were not good......
Attitude: The difference between ordeal and adventure
Scars are Tattoos with really good stories
No matter where ya go....There you are.
Come Back, Come Back.....to the South Bering Sea Islands....
"I know it seems like such a hard life, but there's goodtimes around the bend. The rollercoaster's gotta run to the bottom, before it climbs to the top again..." - Bill Nershi
You'd think if anyone would have any interest in how the song title was used, it would be the songwriters, Jim "Moose" Brown and Don Rollins, not Alan Jackson or Jimmy Buffett.
Re-reading the original post and subsequent information it was Mr. Buffett who gave some $$$ to the proprietors of the Steak House so he could use the '5 o'clock' brand for his new endeavour. In that aspect, Mr. Buffett's legal team must have felt pretty certain that the Steak House had pretty solid title to the 5 o'clock brand name, at least in as far as it relates to the resteraunt business. With the Chi-chi's example, Mr Buffett's legal team was able able to show a clear case of copyright infringment. It seems not so much in this case. Perhaps legally, none exists. I would also add that the trademark on the steak house as provided in this thread was dated a few years after the release of the song. Of course, it may have been cheaper in this instance for Mr. Buffett and the Steak House to come to an agreement versus Mr. Buffett trying to assert a full legal press to win the 5 o'clock brand name in its own right. And if anyone is still reading this drivel at this point I suggest two boat drinks...
