NEW ORLEANS – A fast and casual restaurant operator claims that its trademark is not infringing a Georgia-based company's mark.
Aaron Motwani filed a complaint on March 10 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana against Wet Willies Management Corp. seeking declaratory judgment of trademark noninfringement.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that, beginning in 2012, plaintiff was the rightful owner and senior user of the entirety of the Willie's Chicken Shack mark. The plaintiff holds Wet Willies Management Corp. responsible because the defendant allegedly unlawfully opposed the registration of his Willie's Chicken Shack marks and wrongfully asserted that said marks constitute as an infringement and dilution of defendant's registrations.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks declaratory judgment that plaintiff's mark is not in violation of the Lanham Act, an order enjoining defendant from asserting any charge of infringement, award for his costs and expenses in this action and such other and further relief. He is represented by Thomas S. Keaty of Keaty Law Firm in New Orleans.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana Case number 2:17-cv-02060