What was filed
The complaint is Document 1 in No. 3:26-cv-01418, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, Nashville Division, filed October 5, 2026. The plaintiff is DOGE LLC, which the complaint describes as a Delaware limited liability company. The defendants are Hardee's Restaurants LLC and its parent, CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc., both with principal offices in Franklin, Tennessee, according to the complaint. The complaint demands a jury trial. (Compl. paras. 6 to 8 and p. 1.)
What the complaint alleges
The work is an illustration titled "Trojan Horse." The complaint says illustrator and editorial cartoonist Martin Kozlowski created it in 2015 and that it was first published in the United States in 2015. It alleges that Kozlowski transferred his rights, including accrued causes of action, to DOGE LLC by written assignment dated August 23, 2025, and that the work is registered as No. VA 2-476-614, with an effective date of registration of September 10, 2025. (Compl. paras. 2, 6, 13 to 19.)
The complaint alleges that on or about June 12, 2026, the defendants published an ad for their "2 for $5 Mix n Match" promotion on the verified "Hardee's" Facebook page and, on or about the same date, on the verified "hardees" Instagram account. According to the complaint, the ad reproduced the illustration, cropped, with the words "our budget" over the city wall, "2 for $5 mix and match" over the horse, and "us" over the figures at the gate, plus an inset panel of menu item photos inside the horse, and the Instagram caption read "So that's what was really in the horse." It alleges no license was sought or granted. (Compl. paras. 3, 4, 33 to 35.)
Count I alleges direct infringement against both defendants under 17 U.S.C. 106(1), (2), (3), and (5) and 501, and alleges the infringement was willful under 17 U.S.C. 504(c)(2). Count II, pleaded in the alternative against CKE only, alleges contributory and vicarious infringement. The complaint seeks a declaration, a permanent injunction under 17 U.S.C. 502, impoundment and destruction or other reasonable disposition of copies of the ad under 17 U.S.C. 503, actual damages and profits under 17 U.S.C. 504(b) or, at the plaintiff's election, statutory damages under 17 U.S.C. 504(c), costs and fees under 17 U.S.C. 505, and pre-judgment and post-judgment interest. (Compl. paras. 47 to 61 and prayer A to I.)