Quantcast
Channel: Inside Scoop SF » lawsuits
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 6

Saison and La Saison battle in trademark court

0
0
saisonfight

Saison signage in 2010 (in its Mission location) and La Saison’s bags of nuts.

Who owns the name “Saison”?

That’s the court battle underway between San Francisco destination restaurant Saison and Napa Valley food company La Saison.

The full lawsuit can be read below, but here is the concise overview.

Natalie and Jonathan Niksa founded their specialty food company in 2007. La Saison sell fancy nuts to retailers like Dean & Deluca and Whole Foods Market, in addition to running catering services. In 2010, they procured a trademark for La Saison.

Saison chef-owner Joshua Skenes started his restaurant in 2009, evolving from a pop-up in the Mission to its current home in SoMa, where he and partner Mark Bright run one of the most celebrated fine dining restaurants in the United States, not to mention also one of its most expensive. Saison holds a perfect four stars from the Chronicle, and a perfect three stars from Michelin, one of four restaurants west of the Mississippi to hold that honor.

During Saison’s rise to fame, Natalie Niksa says that the two companies corresponded about their similar names.

“In 2012, we started to get inquiries from our own customers and others in the community confusing La Saison with Saison the restaurant,” she says. She sent Saison a letter acknowledging the name coincidence. At the time, both parties agreed to coexist without any conflict, especially given the difference in products and services; see the letters in the suit below.

However, in December 2014, Saison filed a petition to cancel La Saison’s trademark “on likelihood of confusion grounds,” claiming that La Saison’s  registration has caused and will continue to cause damage to Saison by “creating a likelihood of confusion with Petitioner’s trademark and casting a cloud on the prior trademark rights of Petitioner to use and register Saison for restaurant services.”

And so, La Saison is trying to keep its trademark, by seeking a declaratory judgment of non-infringement. The Saison Group — which ironically is also the defendant in a similar trademark tiff between Chubby Noodle and Fat Noodle — released the following statement through a representative:

“La Saison is a nut company. We’re a restaurant–there isn’t a correlation. It’s really sad to see the hard work of so many marred by this kind of exploitation at a time when our success is the most public.  It seems very convenient.”

The full lawsuit document:

· Previously: Chubby Noodle files trademark suit against Fat Noodle [Inside Scoop]


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 6

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images