Thursday, December 26, 2024

Friars Club Death Worse Than Thought: Lost Trademark Rights to Logo, Lost Battles with NLRB Over Former Staff Issues

Following up on my original story from last night about the Friars Club. Things are worse than thought. Not only is the club padlocked shut and closed. In December they lost the trademark right to their longstanding logo. According to websites that cover trademark news: “The current status of the PRAE OMNIA FRATERNITAS FRIARS CLUB filing is CONTINUED USE NOT FILED WITHIN GRACE PERIOD, UN-REVIVABLE.”

Ouch: Un-revivable.

To make matters worse — and how much worse could they be? — the National Labor Relations Board wrote to the Club on March 2nd that they’d lost a charge brought by the former staff of the Club . The letter can be seen here. It was written to Anthony Trompeta of the Friars from John D. Doyle, Regional Director of the NLRB. He says:

We have carefully investigated and considered your charge that UNITE HERE Local 6
Hotel, Restaurant, Club Employees & Bartenders Union has violated the National Labor
Relations Act. Decision to Dismiss: Based on that investigation, I have decided to dismiss your charge because there is insufficient evidence to establish a violation of the Act.

More to come, obviously, but none of it is good. The Friars had until yesterday to appeal the ruling. It’s unclear if they even bothered.

What a shame. RIP.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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