Post #600946 by arriano on Thu, Aug 4, 2011 2:06 PM

I've actually done a 180 on this issue. My first instinct was the same as many of you - a fat cat liquor company bashing a small business owner with a lawsuit. But having read the letter from Pusser's, and thinking about it a bit more, I'm understanding Pusser's side much more. Look, someone opened a bar and could have named it anything - Manhattan Rum Bar, Tiki Killer, Rumble in the Urban Jungle, etc etc etc. Heck, if they'd named it New York Painkiller they probably would have been OK. But they chose to name it after a fairly well-known cocktail, and one that was trademarked. Doing a trademark search is the smart thing to do whenever starting a business. If they didn't do the research, well then lesson learned. If they did know of the trademark and decided to do it anyway, then they gambled and lost. On a side note, PKNY is a pretty lame alternative name, but hopefully Donna Karan won't come after them.