The plot thickens. When MrKing.net originally posted, it was because he was expecting to get the same burger as he did back in the day. I did a lot of research at the time, mainly as an intellectual curiousity. I never did find any information about River West Brands. What I did find was a track record of marketing people at Hardees bringing back abandoned food items. Nothing wrong with that,as long as people will not cry "fake" when trying new versions of an old favorite.

Thanks to lordhdr for updating the thread. After only a few keystokes on Google, I found this forum entry related to a story in the Indianapolis, Indiana "Star" newspaper. They have a few loose cannons post on that board, but it is one of the best newspaper boards out there. Anyway, their readers weighed in on the issue:
http://www.topix.net/forum/source/indianapolis-star/TPADUKECTRROBD972

I have this personal opinion that the US Patent and Trademark Office aids and abets consumer fraud. If a company gets sold and the new owners do not continue the same exact product line for, say, 10 years, the trademarks should be embargoed for 99 years. If a company goes bankrupt, the trademarks get embargoed for 99 years. Take Schlitz beer. How many people still drink Schlitz beer? Does the swill that Miller/SABC produces for Pabst (Pabst doesn’t even own/operate their own breweries anymore) taste exactly like what Schlitz brewed in Milwaukee 50 years ago? I can’t even drink the stuff anymore.

So, this could go two ways. River West Brands could start a new chain selling Big Shefs exactly like MrKing.net remembers them. Or they could sell sandwiches on hamburger buns with Taylor Pork Roll A/K/A Taylor Ham instead of beef patties and call them Big Shefs. Or it could be a corporate shakedown preying on lame corporate legal departments who don’t keep a suspense file.