Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Hooters of America Inc., the restaurant chain that is best known for the low-cut T-shirts worn by its waitresses, can't stop another restaurant from using similar outfits, a federal judge said.

U.S. District Judge Anne Conway in Orlando, Florida, yesterday threw out a claim by Hooters that Ker's WingHouse was stealing its restaurant designs and waitress outfits. Conway also ordered Hooters to pay Ker's WingHouse $1.2 million on a counterclaim.

``Hooters does not own the sole right to use attractive young women to sell chicken wings,'' said Don Conwell, a lawyer who represented Largo, Florida-based Ker's WingHouse, in an interview.

Mike McNeil, a spokesman for Atlanta-based Hooters, didn't immediately return a call for comment. Closely held Hooters, which opened its first restaurant in 1983 in Clearwater, Florida, has more than 380 locations worldwide.

Conway said that that no reasonable jury could confuse Hooters' orange and white outfits with the all-black uniforms at Ker's Winghouse. She also awarded Ker's WingHouse $1.2 million for a breach of contract counterclaim. The restaurant claimed Hooters broke a 1997 agreement to settle all intellectual property disputes between the companies, Conwell said.

``Intellectual property law gives Hooter's ownership of its name and owl logo, but not ownership of a marketing concept based on the use of attractive females,'' Conwell said.

Ker's WingHouse, which opened in its first restaurant in 1994, has 12 restaurants in central Florida. Founder and President Crawford Ker played football for the Dallas Cowboys before creating the restaurant chain.

The case is Hi Limited v. Winghouse of FL, 03-116, U.S. District Court Central District of Florida.

To contact the reporter on this story: Joyzelle Davis in Los Angeles joydavis@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 3, 2004 14:54 EST