Don't get your hopes up about chowing down on a real-life krabby pattie anytime soon. Viacom, the company that owns SpongeBob Squarepants, just filed a lawsuit against the operators of a Krusty Krab restaurant in Texas, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Let's take a moment to imagine some methed-out dude with an octopus tattoo and the nickname "Squid" working the cash register. OK, that was fun.
As anyone currently between the ages of 20 and 30 probably knows, the Krusty Krab is where SpongeBob happily worked for horrible pay in the cartoon series (except for that episode when he gets laid off and grows a beard, yes, that happened).
Viacom's lawsuit states that the company it's suing, IJR Capital Investments, has even tried to register "Krusty Krab" as its own trademark, but shouldn't be allowed to name a restaurant that because everyone knows Krusty Krab is from SpongeBob Squarepants.
The lawsuit does offer a glimmer of hope for people who want to eat at a legit, SpongeBob-themed Krusty Krab. In making its argument for why only Viacom should be able to use the Krusty Krab name, the lawsuit says "it is within the zone of natural expansion of Viacom business to operate in restaurant services."
In the meantime, you'll have to travel to the Middle East if you want to eat at an actual Krusty Krab restaurant. There's one in Palestine (seen below), and there's really nothing Viacom can do about it.