The University settled a 2013 trademark infringement lawsuit between itself and Bon Vivant Catering earlier this month.
M. Kelly Tillery, a partner at Pepper Hamilton LLP and attorney for Bon Vivant, wrote in an email that the catering company settled with the University July 8. The details of the settlement, which dealt with monetary damages and attorney’s fees, are confidential. Duke was represented by attorney Paul Sun from Ellis and Winters LLP.
“This is a flagrant intent to confuse the public and intellectual property theft,” wrote Laura Hall, Bon Vivant's owner, in an email when the lawsuit was filed in August 2013. “The only way to fix the situation was filing the complaint.”
Case history
Bon Vivant and owner Laura Hall operated the Refectory Café in the Divinity School between 2005 and July 2012, when Core Catering took over the newly-named Divinity Refectory. The ownership change occurred when Hall decided not to pay an increased annual commission to the University. At the time, Bon Vivant also operated a cafe in the Law School, which closed in June 2014.
Hall and Bon Vivant filed a lawsuit in August 2013 against Core Catering, alleging the name “Divinity Refectory” violated Bon Vivant’s November 2012 trademark on the name “Refectory Café.”
Duke was initially not a party to the lawsuit, but in a October 2013 brief, Core Catering claimed it had no control over the name because Duke was responsible for “approving” the name.
Bon Vivant amended its claim to include Duke as a defendant in May 2014. In a January 2015 memorandum, the University argued the trademark infringement claim was invalid because “refectory” and “café” are generic terms.
Rick Johnson, associate vice president of student affairs for Housing, Dining and Residence Life, claimed in an August 2012 article that the trademark was invalid because Duke owned the name.
“There’s no trademark because the last vendor didn’t create the name,” Johnson said at the time. “It was named before the last vendor was even in the building. The name Refectory was created by the Divinity School.”
Hall disagreed, contending she thought up the name back in 2006. Johnson and Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs, declined to comment. Hall could not be reached in time for publication.
The settlement
Although the case against the University finally settled this month, Duke and Core Catering changed the eatery’s name in January 2014 from “Divinity Refectory” to “Divinity Café” during the litigation, Tillery wrote.
The restaurant is listed as the Divinity Café on the Duke Dining webpage, and the name on the wall has been updated as well.
Sun and Kristen Brown, assistant vice president of news, communications and media, declined to comment.
Bon Vivant settled with Core Catering in late 2015 or early 2016, Tillery wrote. The case against the University was scheduled to go to trial July 11, but was cancelled due to the settlement beforehand.
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