That is the roughest barroom brawl on the town.
The legendary downtown dive 169 Bar says their landlord is making an attempt to hijack its now-famous trademark and reopen a copycat bar in the very same spot utilizing the unique proprietor’s hard-earned model recognition, a bombshell lawsuit claims.
The longtime family-controlled property proprietor Maria Kolon quietly went behind the bar proprietor’s again to register the 169 Bar identify and its well-known martini emblem with the federal authorities, the swimsuit claims, and is allegedly plotting to re-open a copycat bar in the identical spot.
“Defendants have indicated that they plan to supply bar providers to shoppers on the similar location below the an identical 169 BAR marks,” the Manhattan Supreme Courtroom submitting states, “regardless of lack of possession or high quality management rights, and have pursued federal functions for Plaintiff’s marks.”
“They’re making an attempt to screw me over,” says present proprietor Charles Hanson.
Kolon didn’t reply to a request for remark.
The trademark lawsuit comes whereas a long-running and contentious eviction swimsuit performs out within the background, the place Hanson, 71, says the landlords strung him alongside over a brand new lease solely to renege on the final minute.
“The trademark factor is like pouring salt on the wound,” Hanson instructed The Publish.
The previous bike messenger and DJ purchased the bar in 2006 after he was run over by a limousine and bought a six-figure payout, and says the one motive the long-lasting identify and emblem is effective is due to how he reworked the bar right into a dive hotspot.
The watering gap has attracted celebrities like actors Zoe Kravitz, Cillian Murphy, and Jason Momoa. Comic Aziz Ansari has additionally been a patron, and his “Grasp of None” character, Dev Shah, partied there on the present.
Hanson defined that a long time in the past, the Podbielska household owned each the constructing and ran the bar — which was extra of an eatery again then.
Jolanta Podbielska, Maria Kolon’s mom, allegedly designed the notorious martini-glass signal — and even tended bar again within the Fifties — however offered it in 1999 for simply $30,000.
When Hanson purchased the bar utilizing his limo-injury money, he mentioned it had a blacked-out vibe of a scuzzy social membership whose major attraction was oil-wrestling.
However he turned it right into a bustling dive, and as we speak enjoys mainstay standing as a hyper-popular fixture of ultra-hip Dimes Sq..
Hanson’s work is backed up by years of unsolicited media protection by nationwide and metropolis publications, over a few years,” the swimsuit claims, cementing a fame for affordable beer and drinks, its distinctive “NOLA vibes” and “actually bizarre and enjoyable” particulars, like a leopard-print pool desk, $5 tarot readings, an aquarium centerpiece and a “youthful common crowd.”
Hanson truly had a federal trademark registered in 2014, however it lapsed with out his information throughout the top of the pandemic in 2020, when he notes he by no means missed a single hire fee.
He didn’t understand the error when he instructed Web page 6 about his trademark again in March — and simply days later, Kolon filed a brand new trademark utility, claiming she and her newly-created LLC have repeatedly used the signal since 1977 when her mom allegedly created it.
“I believe the trademark has worth due to the work I put into it,” mentioned Hanson, “as a result of I don’t suppose it was this worth earlier than.”
“I don’t suppose that they’re compensating me for that,” he mentioned of the sneaky transfer.
One doable difficulty for the longtime landlords is regardless of claiming that they first used the check in 1977, they haven’t run the bar in almost 30 years.
And a federal legal professional for the trademark workplace simply flagged Kolon’s utility for that motive earlier this week, citing “doable non-use of the mark in commerce.”
However Kolon’s daughter, Kristal, has already been telling staff on the beloved dive “that she is the proprietor of the bar,” the swimsuit alleges.
“They may have simply been trustworthy and say, look, our daughter needs to run the bar, and we don’t actually wish to renew the lease,” Hanson mentioned. “It’s the truth that they lied about it.”
