Summary of "Federal judge rules in Buffalo Wild Wings boneless wings lawsuit"

Case summary

A federal judge dismissed a consumer lawsuit against Buffalo Wild Wings that claimed the chain deceived customers by marketing “boneless wings” that are actually chicken breast meat rather than true chicken wings. The central legal question was whether calling the product “boneless wings” would mislead a reasonable consumer. The court concluded the term was not deceptive.

Key points

The plaintiff alleged Buffalo Wild Wings misled customers by labeling pieces of breast meat as “boneless wings.”
The court applied the “reasonable consumer” standard and found consumers would not expect a de-boned drumstick; they would expect a saucy, boneless, nugget-style item.
Buffalo Wild Wings submitted extensive internal materials (including dozens of pages of recipes from a federal docket in Illinois) to show how the product is presented and understood.
The plaintiff pointed to other industry terms (for example, “boneless chicken” and “chicken poppers”) to argue the name was misleading; the judge found that evidence unpersuasive.
ABC News Live ran an Instagram poll: 52% thought boneless wings should be marketed as wings, 36% disagreed, and 12% were undecided.
An appeal remains possible.

Court reasoning

The dispute turned on whether the term “boneless wings” would mislead a reasonable consumer. The judge concluded it would not — consumers would reasonably expect a saucy, boneless, nugget-style item rather than a de-boned drumstick.

Evidence presented

Extensive internal Buffalo Wild Wings materials, including recipe documentation from a federal docket in Illinois, were submitted to demonstrate how the product is prepared and marketed.
Plaintiff relied on comparisons to other industry terms (“boneless chicken,” “chicken poppers”), but the court found those comparisons did not establish deception.

Public reaction

ABC News Live’s Instagram poll showed a split in public opinion: 52% said boneless wings should be marketed as wings, 36% disagreed, and 12% were undecided.