NB: that Snopes page is part of its The Repository Of Lost Legends (TROLL) section, a cautionary lesson in false authority:

http://www.snopes.com/lost/false.asp

(And yes, I got sucked into the "Kentucky trademark" story too.)

While Kentucky Fried Chicken did change its name, it wasn't for the reasons given in that account.

Thanks for that. I did already know firsthand that KFC had changed its name for a time. I found a source (Snopes) that confirmed it. Internally I was skeptical of the reasoning that was provided (since it conflicted with what I knew from more reliable sources), but the actual reasoning was tangential to my point