Wolfgang Puck Battles Elon Musk's Brother Over Trademark Rights For 'The Kitchen' In Restaurant Industry
from the really? dept
Update: The original story incorrectly suggested that the USPTO had allowed a trademark on "the Kitchen" when that's not the case. We've edited the article to correct that impression, and apologize for the error.
Generic terms that are allowed trademark protection are the bane of those that still believe trademark law serves a useful function. For the law to work as intended, to protect the public's ability to know what they're buying and from whom they are buying it, trademarks need to be both unique and identifying.
Take one current trademark dispute, for instance, which happily includes such big names as Wolfgang Puck and the brother of Elon Musk, Kimbal Musk. Those two are currently battling over whether or not the term "the kitchen" ought to be trademarked for the restaurant industry. Puck is opening new digs in Chicago with the name "The Kitchen by Wolfgang Puck." Musk is one of the founders of The Kitchen Cafe out of Colorado. Musk filed a lawsuit against Puck in Colorado over the trademark issue, with Puck's lawyers filing a motion to dismiss while also filing suit in Illinois to have the Chicago area be the venue for the litigation.
The Colorado complaint filed by Musk's company makes the following claim.
Puck's "use of The Kitchen immediately caused confusion in the restaurant industry and marketplace," according to the Colorado compliant, which The Kitchen Cafe filed against a different Puck entity, Wolfgang Puck Licensing.
The claim is fairly laughable for any number of reasons. There is the generic nature of the term in the restaurant industry, the fact that the term does nothing to identify the source of the restaurant ownership, and, most importantly, the wide swath of restaurants that incorporate the term into their names. And that's the reason for Puck's desire to move the venue to Chicago. Puck's lawyer, Steve Mick, explains it nicely.
Both parties have restaurants in Chicago, Mick said. "And we like the fact that within a mile radius of The Kitchen's location in Chicago, there are five or six other restaurants using the phrase 'kitchen.'"
In River North, there's Lyfe Kitchen, Travelle Kitchen + Bar and Doc B's Fresh Kitchen, according to the Illinois complaint. One North Kitchen & Bar is also nearby in the Loop.
"That just sort of underscores our whole point," Mick said. "They don't get to elbow out everybody."
And the fact that they haven't even tried is going to be a problem in the suit. If Puck's restaurants are infringing on Musk's trademarks, why aren't all of these other, longer-standing restaurants likewise infringing? The attorney for The Kitchen Cafe has an answer for this, but it's not a good answer.
"The Kitchen has no issue with descriptive uses of 'kitchen' that do not cause confusion, which is the case in these other instances," said Timothy Getzoff, the attorney representing The Kitchen Cafe. "In contrast, Puck's competing restaurant uses the exact same name, The Kitchen, which already has caused confusion in the market."
Which means that Musk's company essentially filed a trademark suit over the word "the." That word is the hangup here, even as the overtly generic term "kitchen" is utilized all over the restaurant industry. If Musk's suit isn't a loser, then I don't know what would be.
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Filed Under: elon musk, kimbal musk, kitchen, restaurants, trademark, wolfgang puck
Reader Comments
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Ego
I know Wolfgang has a big one, now we know that Kimbal Musk also has a big one. Is this a contest to prove whose ego is bigger, or an attempt at gaining some money, that might hurt a competitor, or is it just about control?
Control seems to be a most likely motivator in many IP related disputes. I don't think the system was supposed to include control (except in what were supposed to be very limited times (a concept lost to a large degree in 1976)).
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I am a little confused by "The Kitchen Cabinet Outlet", but mostly because I am not sure if they sell cabinets or electrical supplies.
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it's all in the location
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USPTO: "I didn't do it!"
The USPTO isn't at fault here. In fact, TKC applied to register THE KITCHEN as a trademark for restaurant services and the Examining Attorney refused. TKC appealed and the Trademark Trial & Appeal Board affirmed the refusal. Don't blame the USPTO. This time.
During that proceeding, TKC argued that there was no likelihood of confusion between THE KITCHEN and DA KITCHEN:
Sounds exactly like Wolfgang Puck's argument. Ouch.
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Re: USPTO: "I didn't do it!"
I've also added the initial complaint to the post, which suggests that there's a bit more to this case than the summary above.
This post is not one of our better efforts, and I'll do my best to make sure we catch these things in the editing process going forward. Sorry about that.
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The only thing confusing is the idiocracy of it all, including the USPTO
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Re: The only thing confusing is the idiocracy of it all, including the USPTO
The stupider, the better. Much easier to separate to fool from his money.
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Well, might I suggest that your pretentious asses don't use a phrase for your trademark that can so easily be confused because it's used literally everywhere? If you put more imagination into your branding, you won't have customers confusing it with other uses of a common dictionary word.
Just out of interest, I decided to Google "The Kitchen". From my results, I get a Food Network show and a performance space in New York before I get to Musk's venture. I also get 3 other restaurants using the same phrase (but no Puck restaurant on the first page of searches, presumably because it's not open yet). Is Musk suing them? Probably not, only the "big name" one (i.e. the rich ones, as usual).
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I'd like to call Kimbal Musk something
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To make it easier:
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Names
However one person who might have a say in the current dispute would be Tom Kitchin. (https://thekitchin.com/about/tom-kitchin?gclid=COfggJ74xtICFde6GwodiaIJqw)
Being a chef and actually being called Kitchin surely should have given him all the trump cards - pity about the pesky "i".
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Fixed!
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It took me a moment to figure out that they're reading the name of the restaurant as (The Kitchen) Cafe, whereas I was reading it as The (Kitchen Cafe).
Since the other restaurant doesn't include the phrase "Kitchen Cafe", it wouldn't even have occurred to me to think of it as being possibly connected, much less confusingly similar.
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Can't believe they're fighting over this name
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The Kitchen Cafe, however, is a lot more ambiguous, but still not unheard of. He could have gone with "The Kimbal Cafe", or something that is not like Puck's establishment.
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I am going to make a bundle...
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