Crushing trademark scofflaws

A small, 10-seat café in Brooklyn has been forced to change its name from Little Dishes to Little D’Eatery. It seems the owners were visited recently by high-power attorneys for Uncommon Grounds, Inc., who own the federal trademark rights to the word Dishes®, the name of Uncommon Grounds’ Dishes® chain. The lawyers told the Little Dishes owners that having “Little” in their name wasn’t sufficient to prevent confusion among potential customers. So Little Dishes is now Little D’Eatery.

“As a new small business,” the Brooklyn restaurateurs wrote to their patrons, “we did not have the resources to fight to keep ‘Dishes’ part of our name and have agreed to make a change.”

Can everybody now understand why I have a problem with federal trademark and copyright laws? Sheesh. I need a break. Maybe I’ll grab a cup of coffee®, drive down to the beach®, and listen to some music® or read a good book® for awhile.