If you’re a radio listener of a certain age, the telephone number 867-5309 is burned forever in your brain. It was made famous — or, for the unfortunates who actually had the number, infamous — by Tommy Tutone, the one-hit wonder California band whose song “867-5309/Jenny” reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1982 and still has cult status.
Two years ago, Gem Plumbing & Heating of Lincoln, R.I., sensing a marketing opportunity, trademarked 867-5309 for its phone number, making it the centerpiece of an ad campaign. The family-owned firm also uses the number in a spoof of the song on TV and radio ads in southern New England.
Now Gem is battling in court with a national company, Clockwork Home Services, that has been using a toll-free version of the number. In an early victory for Gem, a federal judge in Boston recently ordered Florida-based Clockwork to stop using it in New England, effective this week.
One guy even called and documented 867-5309 for every area
code in the country.
The phone company owns the number, not the customer of the phone company.
hop- Uh, thanks for making that stupid song get stuck in my head all day long, sheesh.
I see by the photo that the song is part of the “Priceless Collection”. Does that mean it’s free?
You should see the claymation version of 867-5309