Taco Bell Ordered to Pay $30M Over Chihuahua Suit
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Time for a little business buzz. Remember that talking Chihuahua from the Taco Bell ads? Who could forget him? Well he may not be on the air anymore, but he certainly has made two men very rich. Susan Lisovicz has the details from New York. Tell us.</s>SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: I will tell you, Carol, that a federal jury has ordered Taco Bell to pay two Michigan men mucho dinero, $30 million to be specific. The plaintiffs had sued the fast food chain in 1998 claiming they had pitched the idea for a character called "Psycho Chihuahua" more than a year before Taco Bell began airing the dog commercials in 1997. They claimed Taco Bell advertising executives stole the idea from them and never paid them. The Chihuahua, of course, went on to star in ads for three-and- a-half years, earning a cult following for issuing this catch phrase...</s>DINKY, TACO BELL TALKING CHIHUAHUA: Yo quiero Taco Bell.</s>LISOVICZ: And there he goes. Yum! Brands, which owns Taco Bell, says it will appeal the verdict. And, Carol, bonus trivia question, what is the name of the Talking Chihuahua?</s>COSTELLO: Gosh, you know I don't know. I do know that he recently appeared with GEICO's talking gecko though.</s>LISOVICZ: So making a revival. The name of the talking Chihuahua is Dinky.</s>COSTELLO: What is it?</s>LISOVICZ: Dinky with a</s>D. COSTELLO: Kinky.</s>LISOVICZ: Dinky, as in David Dinky.</s>COSTELLO: Well no wonder it's not well known.</s>LISOVICZ: Go figure. Yes, I know, it doesn't sound Spanish, now does it, because the dog talks Spanish. But in any case,...</s>COSTELLO: Dinky.</s>LISOVICZ: ... that's the name. You'll be the hit of any party that you attend...</s>COSTELLO: Yes, hopefully it'll be a...</s>LISOVICZ: ... with that kind of knowledge.</s>COSTELLO: ... Trivial Pursuit question and I'll win on Dinky. Thank you, Susan, appreciate it.</s>LISOVICZ: My pleasure. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com