Decanter World Wine AwardsCoppola sues restaurant over 'Tavola' name
- Friday 13 April 2012
Trustees of the Coppola family, which owns restaurants Zoetrope in San Francisco and Rustic in Sonoma County, say that 'a tavola', meaning ‘to the table’, a casual dining experience with no menus, is a hallmark of the restaurants.
The Coppola Family Trust has registered a US trademark for the phrase 'a tavola' upon which the lawsuit is based.
Coppola attorney Giselle Galper wrote to Tavola owners, father and son team Anthony and Jon Paul Pirraglia, to say that customers will be misled into believing their restaurant is connected with Coppola or his Sonoma winery, Francis Ford Coppola Winery.
The lawsuit was filed on 2 April.
According to local website Novato Patch, Jon Paul Pirraglia has said that he believes the name ‘creates no actual conflict with the rights asserted by the Coppola family in their recently filed lawsuit’ and that they have ‘put considerable effort into explaining this to the Coppola family in order to achieve a resolution of the dispute without resort to litigation.”
The case is being presided over by US Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu in California's Northern District Court.
[Image: novato.patch.com]
Have your say!
Kevin Beck
April 26 22:32
I'm waiting for his lawsuit against the ancient Holy Roman Empire for the use of the name "Rubicon."
John Radford
April 18 07:25
Presumably now Mr Coppola will be suing every producer of Vino da Tavola in Italy. Is it too late to retrain as a lawyer?
Dan Bocik
April 14 01:17
I understand Both sides in this case!
After cooking in Italy, I opened a tavola Restaurant in Chicago in 1995. It was only last year that I realized that Mr. Coppola Did, and I Didn't trademark a tavola.
I invite Any & All, current & Future a tavola owners to come to Chicago and discuss
"a tavola"