Clem’s Roadside Bar and Grill wasn’t the source of any trouble during the Autoport Motel’s recent appearance on the reality TV show Hotel Impossible, but it is now.
The eatery is the target of a new lawsuit — filed by the ex-wife of the restaurant’s namesake.
Clem’s Café of Blairsville, Pa. is suing Clem’s Roadside Bar and Grill in State College, seeking monetary damages for alleged trademark infringement.
Attorney Denise Dieter says her client, Clem’s Café owner Kathy Andrews, was formerly married to current Clem’s Roadside Bar and Grill employee Clem Pantolone. She says Pantolone sold Andrews the rights to the name “Clem’s” in 1998, prior to their divorce.
Dierer says the name “Clem’s” is trademarked by Andrews and her business partner Paul Grgouric, who have been continually operating Clem’s Café in Blairsville since 1998.
Court documents filed last week note that the Blairsville restaurant has been in operation since 1995, when it was known simply as Clem’s.
Greg Mussi, co-owner of the Autoport and chef at Clem’s Roadside Bar and Grill, says he first received notice to stop using the name “Clem’s” from Clem’s Café shortly after he employed Pantolone to help rebrand the Autoport restaurant as Clem’s Roadside Bar and Grill last January.
Mussi says he and his wife Lynda, another Autoport co-owner, took the notice to their attorney, who informed them they were within their legal rights to continue using the name “Clem’s,” as long as they didn’t call the business “Clem’s Café.”
Mussi says the name “Clem’s Roadside Bar and Grill” is licensed through the state of Pennsylvania. He says neither he nor Pantolone intended to create the impression Clem’s Roadside Bar and Grill is associated in any way with Clem’s Café.
“We plan on putting disclaimers on our menus saying we are not associated in any way with any other Clem’s,” Mussi says. “All of our logos and signage all say that we are the ‘Roadside Bar and Grill.”
Mussi says Pantolone operated a series of stands and other eateries around the area for about 20 years before opening the Roadside Bar and Grill with the Mussis. He also notes that there are other businesses in the area operating under similar names that are not party to the lawsuit, including Clem’s Catering.
The lawsuit argues the two businesses use similar logos with similar color schemes. It also says that Clem’s Roadside Bar and Grill “derives revenue” from Clem’s Café through marketing strategies that are “likely to deceive and cause confusion” about a connection between the two businesses.
“Defendants are using ‘CLEM’S’ to create the false impression that Defendants are affiliated with Clem’s Café, Inc,” the lawsuit reads.
Dieder says representatives of Clem’s Roadside Bar and Grill have 20 days to respond to the lawsuit.
On Tuesday, the Autoport Motel was featured in an hour-long episode of the Travel Channel’s Hotel Impossible show. Host Anthony Melchiorri discovered a series of problems, including outdated equipment, dirty rooms and a shortage of bed linens. The motel was about to enter foreclosure, but the bank is giving the owners time to make improvements and beef up profits. The Mussis have expressed an interest in continuing to restore and improve the motel.
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