Texas-based restaurant sues two dining spots over Trademark Infringement

19 Jan 2019

January 19,2019:

Texas company behind a chain of Tex-Mex “Mi Cocina” restaurants are demanding two Louisville restaurants of the same name to change their name.

According to the Texas company, the Louisville dining spots is damaging the brand name and also confusing their customers as well. The Texas-based “Mi Cocina” which means ‘my kitchen’ in Spanish is suing the two Louisville dining spots in federal court, alleging trademark infringement.

According to the lawsuit, the Texas company learned about the similarity in names when a customer who ate at the Louisville restaurant complained about the food quality.

The suit also claims that two other customers mistook the Louisville restaurant for the Texas chain. The Texas company also sent a cease and desist letter demanding the Louisville restaurant to drop their name.

But Louisville owners argued that the full name of its restaurants was sufficiently different than the “Mi Cocina” to prevent any confusion.

The Texas company stated that the Louisville restaurants often use solely the “Mi Cocina” name, not the fuller name as they suggested. When the Louisville restaurants didn’t respond to the cease and desist letter, the Texas company filed the lawsuit in US District Court in Louisville demanding the local restaurants to change their name and were also seeking attorneys’ fees.

In defence Attorney Scott Zoppoth stated that the chain’s restaurants located in Texas serve Tex-Mex style food while the Louisville restaurants serve only Mexican food.

The Louisville lawsuit is the seventh suit filed by the Texas company in the last decade alleging trademark infringement, all of which ended in favour of the Texas company.