Summerfest Sues Red Lobster Over Chain’s Promotions

Orlando based restaurant chain, Red Lobster, has brought back its “Lobster and Shrimp Summerfest” promotion and along with it revived allegations of trademark infringement over the use of the term “Summerfest.”

Milwaukee World Festival (MWF), owner of the “Summerfest” trademark for its annual music festival, filed suit against Red Lobster alleging trademark infringement and unfair competition over the use of the mark, which it claims has caused actual confusion with local city officials.

MWF cites back to Red Lobster’s use of the mark in 2016 and subsequent renaming of the promotion to “Crabfest” after MWF demanded that it cease and desist.

MWF has asked that Red Lobster again return to using the “Crabfest” name instead, but, according to the pre-suit communications, Red Lobster does not believe its promotion would in any way cause confusion with a music festival and therefore rejects the allegations of infringement.

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Source: Milwaukee Business Journal