New York, 03.23.2017 The Owner Marc Murphy of Manhatten restaurant Landmarc, has attained resolution to a trademark lawsuit over plans for an eatery named “Landmark” at the nearby site of the old Four Seasons restaurant.
The lawsuit, which was filed less than a month ago, claimed that the planned name for the new restaurant by chefs Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi and their Major Food Group LLC, was confusingly similar to that of Murphy’s restaurant, just one mile away.
The new restaurant was to open this month in the same in the location that was occupied by the four Seasons for more than six decades. The four Season left that spot last year and have plans to reopen on Park Avenue in the future.
The first use of the name ‘Landmarc’ by Marc Murphy, was in 2004 when he opened the first Landmarc restaurant in Tribeca. His second location in midtown’s Time Warner Center it’s only a stone’s throw then planned Landmark. The Major Food Group LLC runs other Manhattan restaurants on the same upscale level.
In the lawsuit filed on March 7th, Murphy claims consumer confusing between the names “Landmark” and “Landmarc”.
“When pronounced, the words “Landmark” and “Landmarc” are phonetically identical,” Murphy wrote. “It is a generally accepted practice in the restaurant industry, that, when reservations are made for high-quality dining, they are often using a telephone, wherein the name of the restaurant spoken by an employee answering the phone and/or the patron seeking the reservation.”
This case over the previous Four Seasons site was the latest in a rash of trademark lawsuits over the New York City landmarks. The operator of the century-old venue Webster Hall sued its landlord over the rights to that name earlier this month and the city sued last month over Central Park fixture Tavern on the Green.
Murphy, suing through his Anvil NY LLC. Is represented by Ernest Edward Badway of Fox Rothschild LLP.
Major Food Group is represented by Andrew Bennett Kratenstein of Mc Dermott Will & Emry LLP.
