Can You Say “Frivolous Lawsuit”?

I knew you could. At the Washington Post Lawrence Downes complains that an upstart mainland company thinks that the word “aloha” belongs to them:

The Hawaiian dictionary defines “aloha” as “love, affection, compassion, mercy, sympathy, pity, kindness, sentiment, grace, charity.” It is a synonym for “sweetheart” or “loved one,” “hello,” “farewell” and “beloved, loving, kind, compassionate, charitable, lovable.” It is also a verb meaning “to love” or “to show kindness, mercy, pity, charity, affection.”

The word means a lot to those of us with Hawaiian roots. So we were upset to hear that a fast-food chain in Chicago called Aloha Poke Co. has been sending letters ordering companies in Hawaii and elsewhere to stop using “aloha” in their names. Aloha Poke sells food in bowls meant to resemble poke, a Hawaiian dish made of raw fish and seaweed and other seasonings. Nobody in Hawaii told these guys they couldn’t do this to our beloved poke, even though they are making it wrong, or that they couldn’t make commercial use of our greatest word.

The word is free, of course, and is used by us in a spirit that is open and welcoming to those who want to share. The reaction in Hawaii to the cease-and-desist “aloha” letters has been anger and disbelief. But the trouble, the pilikia, is for real. A native-Hawaiian poke-shop owner in Alaska told The Washington Post that after getting the letter she abandoned the name “Aloha Poke Stop” and spent thousands of dollars removing “aloha” from her company’s signs and T-shirts and other materials.

Any claim by Aloha Poke is so obviously a frivolous one I don’t know how anyone could make it with a straight face but it highlights a problem with our legal system. Lawyers send out these “cease and desist” letters in the hope that their targets will back down without fighting back.

In this case it’s just adding fuel to the fire. Some Hawaiians are upset about the Chicago-based company and are suing them. Aloha Poke might have bit off more than they can chew. Next stop: cease and desist letters to the German city of Hamburg.

Disclosure: Aloha Poke has a location two blocks from where I work. Whether it’s actually poke or not, it makes a good lunch for me.