Idaho Fry Company vs Idaho Potato Commission

The Boise Weekly reports online that the Idaho Potato Commission has given newly opened Idaho Fry Company until the end of August to change its name. The restaurant plays up a variety of different kinds of fries as first-fiddle next to its burgers.

Fry Company co-owners Blake Lingle and Riley Huddleston told the alternative weekly they registered the restaurant's name three months before they opened earlier this year. But days before customers started munching on the fancy fries, the Potato Commission told them the restaurant's name is a no-no.

The rub is this: The Potato Commission holds rights that prevent unauthorized use of "Idaho Potato"and similar constructions. The commission's Frank Muir told KTVB-TV it must protect the decades-old phrase.

"We have to be aggressive in protecting it,"he said on Monday's newscast. "It is what Idaho's known for, and we have to do everything we can to keep that protected."