It’s always frustrating to watch a trademark dispute occur when the marks in question are non-distinctive or generic in nature. Now, I want to be careful here, because the trademark in question here is one that has been applied in a way slightly different than the generic use of the term is typically used. An analog of sorts might be “apple.” Used in the foodstuffs business, that is obviously a term that would not be trademarkable. Used in the computer industry, on the other hand, makes the use valid for trademark purposes.
But I don’t be believe that analogy fully survives this case, in which a restaurant in Denver, named simple “Bodega”, changed its name under threat from another restaurant in Kansas City called “La Bodega.”
The popular Sunnyside restaurant (now formerly known as) Bodega, which opened in 2022 at 2651 W. 38th Ave. in Denver, has been forced to change its name to “Odie B’s” following a cease and desist order from “La Bodega,” a Spanish tapas lounge in Kansas City, Missouri.
Blauvelt said that despite extensive negotiations with lawyers representing the Kansas City outfit, an agreement could not be reached for them to continue using the Bodega name. That prompted the rebrand, which has cost them approximately $10,000, she said.
And this is where what is essentially a misuse of the word comes into play. A bodega, in common parlence, is an urban convenience store of sorts, typically associated with Hispanic offerings. The Denver Gazette quotes an IP attorney stating that because this is for use in the restaurant sector, the word becomes non-generic and therefore can be trademarked.
But that’s not really the whole story. The fact is that food is sold at traditional bodegas and the industries are close enough to one another that there is some relation. Then we can add to that the fact that these two entities are operating in completely different geographic areas, Denver and Kansas City. All of that combines such that I have a very hard time believing that anyone in Denver was going to eat at Bodega and even be aware that La Bodega in Kansas City exists, nevermind draw some kind of a connection.
But trademark bullying tends to work, as it did in this case, causing the owner of Bodega to change its name.
The new moniker, “Odie B’s” is a tongue-in-cheek nod to the rapper “Ol’ Dirty Bastard,” the stage name for Russell Tyrone Jones — one of the founding members of the Wu-Tang Clan and a favorite artist of Cliff Blauvelt. Cara said the restaurant checked into the ability to trademark the new name, a process which the business is currently working on.
Now, a restaurant giving an homage to ODB certainly makes this writer very happy. But it just plain sucks that small outfits like this feel pressured to bow to bullies wielding broad and generic trademarked terms granted by a USPTO all too happy to rubberstamp these sorts of marks.
