2 Plumbing Companies Battle for Rights to 867-5309 Telephone Number
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
One-hit wonder Tommy Tutone made the phone number 867-5309 famous in the band's 1982 hit single, which uses the digits over and over in its catchy refrain.
Now, a Rhode Island company and a national firm are battling over the right to use the number, which doesn't reach the "Jenny" that Tutone sings about, but could find callers a decent plumber.
Two years ago, Gem Plumbing & Heating of Lincoln, R.I., trademarked the phone number in the early 1980s hit, which reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Gem acquired the number in Rhode Island when its original owner, Brown University, gave up 867-5309 after growing weary of the constant prank calls.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
Gem's number works in the 401 area code in Rhode Island and the 617 area code in southern Massachusetts.
But Florida-based Clockwork Home Services, also a plumbing company, uses a toll-free version of 867-5309 in New England. They argue a company can only trademark a vanity number, like 1-800-FLOWERS.
Gem won round one in its legal fight over the number when a federal judge in Boston recently barred Clockwork from using the number in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, effective this week. But Clockwork's lawyers said they would fight on.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}
Tommy "Tutone" Heath told The Boston Globe that he'd prefer if neither company used the number.
"It's ridiculous," said Heath. "If I wanted to get into it, I could probably take the number away from both of them."