BEVERLY HILLS Calif. Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck has sued New York-based restaurateur Wolfgang Zwiener for trademark infringement after Zwiener opened a Wolfgang’s Steakhouse earlier this month near Puck’s Beverly Hills steak place, Cut, and famed Spago restaurant.
Zwiener, a longtime waiter at New York’s renowned Peter Luger steakhouse, owns two Wolfgang’s locations in his home city. He is planning to open branches in Hawaii and Miami by next year.
In the lawsuit that was filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Puck asserts that the public has been confused by the new steakhouse’s name. The place’s sign prominently features “Wolfgang’s Steakhouse” and minimizes the tagline “by Wolfgang Zwiener.” The lawsuit alleges that Wolfgang’s Steakhouse operators are “brazenly seeking to take unfair advantage of the reputation and enormous good will developed over the last 32 years” by Puck and his brand.
Puck also alleges that Zwiener violated a 2007 agreement that any restaurants he opened outside Manhattan would use his full name to eliminate confusion with Puck’s restaurants. Puck does not operate restaurants in New York, but has 17 fine-dining locations across the country.
“People have come to me and asked why I was opening another steakhouse in Beverly Hills and whether I am going to close Cut,” Puck said. “I tell them the new steakhouse has nothing to do with me and they stare in disbelief. The most common reaction is, ‘It says Wolfgang’s Steakhouse and you are Wolfgang.’”
Officials with Wolfgang’s Steakhouse in New York did not return press calls.