Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum is treating the arguments by the city and the LeRoy family as a “complex intellectual-property dispute,” says Diner’s Journal of the Tavern on the Green suit to determine ownership of the restaurant’s trademark. The matter is downright epic, with “a barrage of Socratic questions” in the courtroom, gaggles of lawyers, a line of salad dressing bearing the restaurant’s name, 452 creditors, 400 waiting Tavern employees, and generally the same number of twists and turns found in Choose Your Own Adventure books. Even Robert Moses provided evidence yesterday, in the form of an archived 1956 memo the city hoped would establish the history of the restaurant’s name starting from 1934, not the seventies when Warner LeRoy filed for his own trademark.
Meanwhile, Nation’s Restaurant News has an overview and slideshow of the upcoming bankruptcy auction, to be held January 13–15. Tiffany glass lamps are among the items to be sold, and each Baccarat crystal chandelier might go for half a million. But, again, what’s going to happen to all of those salad dressings, marinades, and flavored oils bearing the restaurant’s name?
Judge Rises to the Challenge in Tavern Trademark Case [Diner’s Journal/NYT]
Tavern on the Green prepares for auction [NRN]
