When Frank Ryan was asked to leave Rib City Grill in East Naples in 2007, the general manager signed an agreement not to compete or use the restaurant’s trade secrets, recipes, or food preparation techniques for 10 years.
So managers of the Fort Myers-based restaurant, which has franchises in seven other states, were surprised when they received an e-mail about its Long Island, N.Y., restaurant: They had no restaurant there.
It turned out it was Ryan’s restaurant, Rib City Ale House in Port Jefferson Station.
So Rib City Group’s attorney sent Ryan a cease-and-desist letter, telling him “Rib City,†its layout, smiling pig, menus, recipes, food preparation techniques, Internet name, and other material was trademark-protected.
Ryan’s attorney called it an “inadvertent mistake, a coincidence,†and said Ryan would remove the Rib City name. He didn’t.
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