Only in America: Legal duel over heart attack burger joints

(AFP PHOTO/HEART ATTACK GRILL)

The owner of the "Heart Attack Grill" in Arizona is suing "Heart Stoppers Grill" in Florida, accusing the outlet of plagiarizing his death by burger brainchild, lawyers said Thursday.

Jon Basso, the owner of the original Arizona joint, is fiercely defending the intellectual property rights of his medically-themed restaurant, which boasts death-defying meal options such as the quadruple bypass burger.

Last week, Basso filed a plagiarism lawsuit against "Heart Stoppers Grill" for allegedly copying "at least 30" elements from his restaurant's decor or high-calorie menu.

Examples in the suit provided to AFP by Robert Kain, the lawyer for the plaintive, were X-rays of human organs hung on the walls and a deal offering free meals to clients weighing in above 160 kilograms (350 pounds).

At the "Heart Attack Grill", patrons known as "patients" take "prescriptions" from "nurses" and a tag is put on their wrist showing what food they have ordered so they can be examined by a "doctor" with a stethoscope.

Kain said the Florida-based newcomer is no more than the "poor cousin" of the "Heart Attack Grill," which was founded in the Arizona town of Chandler in 2005.

The "Heart Stoppers Grill" denies it has ripped off Basso's ideas.

"It is not even related, it is a totally different concept," said its lawyer Eric Lee. "The owner was a rescue worker, he has a medical background, and so what he tried to do is a medically-themed restaurant.

"As far as I know their menu is quiet limited, they serve burgers, fries and alcohol and that's it. Whereas we, as a family restaurant, serve a whole bunch of things, like chicken wings."