Anyway, in 1951, Leo Peters purchased the trademark from Walker for $10. Having collected the interesting mark, Peters didn't know what to use it for at first (like I said, some of this story doesn't really pass muster), so while he was deciding, he licensed it to a Chicago meat processing company, Swift & Co., famous for having retained its status as a major food company even after serving as a poster child and punching bag for Teddy' Roosevelt's trust-busting crusade a few decades earlier.
The first BUTTERBALL brand turkey reportedly was sold by Swift in 1954. Based on trademark assignment records, the product must have been a hit because Leo Peters permanently and formally licensed or assigned the registration to Swift in 1956. Peters apparently retained non-poultry related rights in the BUTTERBALL mark and, in the late 1950's or early 1960's, founded Butterball Farms, Inc., a butter company in Grand Rapids, Michigan, that is still in business but has nothing to do with turkey..."
