Tommy’s Destiny, Inc. and Poppy, Inc. filed a complaint in the Eastern District of Kentucky against Fury Asian Foods, Inc. for allegedly infringing the trademarked name of their Japanese steakhouse.
The plaintiffs operate Japanese hibachi steakhouses with the trademark “Sakura Japanese Steakhouse.” Their two primary steakhouses opened in 2004 in Lawrenceburg, Indiana and in Cincinnati, Ohio in 2008, the complaint said.
Recently, the plaintiffs learned that the defendant is “making plans to open and operate a Japanese hibachi-style restaurant under the exact same name as Plaintiffs’ restaurants” as Sakura Japanese Steakhouse. restaurant is less than 35 miles from both of the plaintiffs’ locations and is considered within the Cincinnati Metropolitan Region, so this new restaurant “will serve the same or similar consumers of the Japanese hibachi-style restaurant experience as Plaintiffs’ current restaurants.”
There are no federal trademarks for this name, but “each of the Sakura Japanese hibachi-style restaurants located in other geographic locations rely on common law trademark rights in their respective geographic regions” which applies in this situation.
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Restaurant Sues Identically Named Business for Trademark Infringement
