A Chicago mom-and-pop joint called Cipriani has been accused of trying to profit off the Manhattan food empire of the same name, but its owner says that's a crock — because, frankly, her food is better.
Annette Johnson, owner of Cipriani's Pasta and Sauce of Chicago Heights, sniffs in a countersuit against the Cipriani Group that she has no desire to be associated or confused with the larger firm.
"The [Chicago] Ciprianis' pasta was and continues to be made by hand and is air-dried naturally, which gives the pasta more character and flavor and results in a higher-quality product compared to commercial pasta which is heat-dried," she says in papers recently filed in Manhattan federal court.
Johnson's filing was in response to a $1 million-plus trademark-infringement lawsuit that the Cipriani Group slapped Cipriani's Pasta and Sauce with in August.
The Cipriani Group's suit alleges that its own upscale eateries, including its Midtown and Wall Street locations, attract such A-listers as Derek Jeter, Kim Kardashian and Robert De Niro — and that the Chicago business is trying to profit off that reputation by making "a concerted effort to associate their inferior," cheaper wares with its own fancier foods.
Both businesses sell Cipriani-branded products in grocery stores, supermarkets and online.
But Johnson says in the papers that if anyone is deceiving customers, it's the Cipriani Group — causing Midwesterners to believe its products are affiliated with her popular local enterprise.
She's now seeking a court order prohibiting the Manhattan-based powerhouse — which operates eateries, banquet halls and other businesses worldwide — from hawking its products in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.
She also wants it to stop "doing any other act likely to confuse, mislead or deceive others into believing that CGI or its products and services are affiliated with, connected with, sponsored by, approved by CP&S or its products,'' according to the papers.
Johnson says in her countersuit that the Cipriani Group's trademarks dates only to 1985 — "long after" Cipriani's Pasta and Sauce opened a trademarked business.
Her business began as a small Italian restaurant in Chicago Heights opened by John and Mary Cipriani in 1929.
The couple expanded in 1955 by selling their homemade pasta and sauces in regional stores. Decades later, sales went online. Johnson bought the business in 2004.
Through her lawyer, Ira Glauber, Johnson declined to comment. Messages left with Cipriani Group lawyers were not returned.
Harry Cipriani Fifth Avenue in Midtown and other Cipriani Group establishments are an offshoot of Harry's Bar, a famous Venice, Italy, tavern opened in the 1930s by Giuseppe Cipriani.
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