BRUNSWICK – Tao Restaurant in Brunswick will change its name to Tao Yuan to resolve a trademark infringement lawsuit filed by a national chain.
“The name will be changing,” said Howard Shire of New York law firm Kenyon and Kenyon, who represented Tao Licensing LLC, which launched the suit. “The case has been resolved.”
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Shire declined further comment.
According to the lawsuit, which was filed in October, TAO Licensing, a Delaware-based company with restaurants in New York and Las Vegas, claimed that the Brunswick restaurant was illegally using the Tao name. TAO Licensing began operations in 2000 after receiving trademark licenses for the use of the uppercase word “TAO.”
The Delaware company also contended that the Brunswick restaurant violated state and federal trademark and unfair competition laws and violated Maine’s Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the Federal Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act.
The “defendants’ use of the names ‘TAO’ and ‘TAO Maine’ for their Asian restaurant is an effort to free-ride on the enormous goodwill established by plaintiff’s well-known and famous TAO Venues,” TAO Licensing said in court documents.
The Brunswick restaurant is owned by Cecile, John and Cara Stadler.
The Stadlers could not immediately be reached for comment.
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