Hooters Suing Florida Escort Service For Suggesting Its Waitresses are Hookers

We all know Hooters' trademark waitress uniforms are designed with aerodynamic and performance issues in mind to ensure that your wings are served in the most efficient way possible. Nothing imprudent going on there. So now Hooters is suing a Florida escort service that decided to use the slang "Hooters...

By Kyle Munzenrieder

December 27, 2013

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We all know Hooters' trademark waitress uniforms are designed with aerodynamic and performance issues in mind to ensure that your wings are served in the most efficient way possible. Nothing imprudent going on there.

So now Hooters is suing a Florida escort service that decided to use the slang "Hooters girls" as a slang for escorts in a Craigslist ad.

Nikki's Escort Service posted on ad on the Tampa Bay Craigslist site looking to recruit "working girls" with an image of a woman in a Hooters uniform with the copy, "Now Hiring Hooters Girls $100 Per Hour."

Hooters, being a Tampa Bay-founded business itself, caught wind of the ad and filed a lawsuit in a Fort Lauderdale federal court against Nikki's Escort Service and its proprietor Nikki Swafford.

According to Reuters, the restaurant chain claims the escort service "tarnished" their reputation by including their trademarked logo, uniform and mascot in the ad.

The company reached out to Swafford by telephone, but she replied in a "profane and unprofessional manner." The ad was then changed to read, "Kooters," but Hooters maintains that's still trademark infringement.

Craigslist was also named as a defendant in the suit for failing to take the ad down.

Follow Miami New Times on Facebook and Twitter @MiamiNewTimes.

Kyle Munzenrieder

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