Call Your Mother Sues "Call Your Bubbi," a New Jersey Deli, for Trademark Infringement - Washingtonian

"Dana says he was first alerted when a neighbor texted him a picture of the shop and asked whether Call Your Mother had opened a location in New Jersey. Dana and Moreira have trademarked the phrase "call your mother" for use as a deli, café, or restaurant, plus the rotary phone logo. Their suit argues that the New Jersey shop's continued use of the name Call Your Bubbi and a similar logo, even after a cease-and-desist letter sent in August, is "likely to cause consumer confusion and deception.""

"'In Jewish culture, the terms 'mother' and 'bubbi' both denote a caring and nurturing Jewish matriarch,' their lawsuit reads. 'For Jewish delis-whose brand narratives often center on tradition, comfort, and family recipes-both marks evoke the same core idea- a warm and loving (but also somewhat instructive or scolding) prompt to call your mother or grandmother, and to grab some coffee and bagels while you are at it.'"

"The name "Call Your Mother" came to Andrew Dana when a group of friends were sitting around riffing on things Jewish moms and grandmothers would often say. It stuck, and soon afterward, a friend designed a rotary phone logo for Dana's first brick-and-mortar bagel shop, which opened in DC's Park View neighborhood in 2018. The name might just as easily have been "Call Your Bubbi," using the Yiddish word for "grandmother." At least, that's the idea behind a lawsuit filed this week by Dana and Call Your Mother co-owner Daniela Moreira against Bubbi Bagels-also known as Call Your Bubbi -a bagel shop that opened on the Jersey Shore last year."

Andrew Dana named his bagel shop Call Your Mother after friends riffed on things Jewish moms and grandmothers often say, and a friend designed a rotary-phone logo for the first shop in DC's Park View in 2018. Dana and co-owner Daniela Moreira registered trademarks for the phrase and logo for use by delis, cafés, and restaurants. A New Jersey shop operating as Bubbi Bagels and sometimes displaying Call Your Bubbi opened on the Jersey Shore, prompting a neighbor to alert Dana. Dana and Moreira allege the New Jersey shop's continued use of the similar name and rotary motif, after a cease-and-desist, is likely to cause consumer confusion. The lawsuit emphasizes cultural overlap between 'mother' and 'bubbi' in Jewish tradition and notes mixed use of the Bubbi Bagels name on public listings and merchandise.

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