Subway v. Quiznos (Letters) [1]

In late 2006, restaurant franchisor Quiznos and video-sharing site iFilm co-sponsored a nationwide contest, “Quiznos v. Subway TV Ad Challenge,” inviting members of the public to submit videos comparing a Quiznos sandwich to a Subway sandwich using the theme "meat, no meat." Contestants submitted their videos to www.meatnomeat.com [2], and iFilm published entries on its website, where they remained following the end of the contest and selection of the winner.

According to paragraph 23 of Subway's second amended complaint, later filed in federal court in Connecticut, on November 1, 2006 Subway sent Quiznos and/or iFilm cease-and-desist letters, demanding that they stop making "false and misleading derogatory statements" about Subway's product via the user-submitted videos, and that they "remove from [their] websites the commercials and advertisements." Two of the commercial were apparently relocated, but, according to Subway's second amended complaint, Quiznos and iFilm refused to remove the commercials, which remained viewable online.

Subway filed a lawsuit against Quiznos and iFilm in federal court within days of the letters being sent. (Please see the CMLP's Database entry [3] for the related Subway v. Quiznos lawsuit.)