Carnegie Hall Takes Trademark Center Stage in Legal Battle

Carnegie Hall has reportedly commenced an action against Carnegie Diner and Café for trademark infringement.

In its complaint filed with the United States District Court, Southern District of New York, the Carnegie Hall Corporation alleged that the defendants “trade off of Carnegie Hall’s strong brand, reputation and goodwill, and are likely to confuse consumers and dilute Carnegie Hall’s valuable trademarks.” Carnegie Hall specifically takes issue with the restaurants featuring wall-size murals of the Carnegie Hall building and stage, as well as selling T-shirts and other merchandise associated with the venue and its historic events.

The complaint explicitly names the individual defendant, Efstathios Antonakopolous, as the owner and operator of the defendant corporation and the individual defendant restaurants and references an interview with Antonakopoulos, where he reportedly indicated that Carnegie Diner was inspired by “an idea to pay homage to Carnegie Hall”. In response, the complaint asserts, “[t]his is no ‘homage;’ it is theft”.

The complaint seeks various forms of relief, including monetary damages, permanent injunctive relief, an accounting and disgorgement of the defendants’ profits, destruction of all materials, including the infringing marks, and punitive damages.