Tavernetta owners sue another restaurant called… Tavernetta 

In Italian, the word tavernetta means “small tavern.” But to Denver’s Tavernetta restaurant, any other eatery using that name is a big deal. 

This week, IP Holdings LLC, a Boulder company that manages the Tavernetta trademark for the restaurant’s parent company Frasca Hospitality Group, filed a federal lawsuit against a Boston restaurant named La Tavernetta by Mida, accusing it of trademark infringement, unfair competition, and cybersquatting. 

The company is seeking an injunction that would force La Tavernetta by Mida to stop using the name, transfer website domain ownership, and pay damages, among other actions like removing and destroying signs, marketing material, and other items bearing the Tavernetta name. 

“Defendant has infringed Plaintiff’s trademark and unfairly competed, used false designations of origin, and/or used misleading descriptions and representations of fact,” reads the complaint. “Despite written notice, Defendant has engaged and continues to engage in such activities with the purpose and effect of trading upon Plaintiff’s reputation and goodwill by causing confusion and mistake among customers and the public and of deceiving consumers into believing that Defendant’s Infringing Services are associated with, sponsored by, originated from, or are approved by Plaintiff.

Boston’s La Tavernetta opened in April of this year, serving a similar style of upscale Italian cuisine featuring handmade pastas, wine and more as Denver’s Tavernetta, which the Frasca Hospitality Group opened in September of 2017. La Tavernetta also uses the OpenTable platform to manage reservations, just like Denver’s Tavernetta. The complaint argues that consumers searching for either restaurant could assume they are affiliated, or even mistakenly book at the wrong establishment.

Tavernetta’s lawyers sent the Boston restaurant a cease-and-desist letter about the name the day it opened, which La Tavernetta lawyers responded to by denying any such infringement existed. The newer restaurant cited the fact that the Tavernetta name was preceded by “la” and ended with “by Mida” as distinction enough. (Mida is an Italian restaurant in Boston with three locations, before opening La Tavernetta.)

Clearly, Tavernetta disagrees. It points to the restaurant’s recent expansion to Vail and the website domains attached to each, as further proof of this potential confusion. The Boston restaurant’s website is “latavernettaeastie.com” while in Colorado the Frasca group owns the tavernettadenver.com and tavernettavail.com, both using similar naming conventions. 

What’s more, Tavernetta has established a strong national presence thanks to its Michelin Bib Gourmand status, James Beard award nominations (for Best Chef: Mountain in 2022) and Wine Spectator awards, which one could argue (and, with this lawsuit, Tavernetta is) that La Tavernetta in Boston is trying to take advantage of without earning the reputation themselves. 

So if you’re in Boston and thinking the Frasca Hospitality team has expanded yet again with an outpost there, don’t be fooled.