Yet another press release has been released over the Besaw’s name battle. I’ll post it in full below. It appears that the landlord, C.E. John is attempting to mitigate all the bad publicity over the dispute with Besaw’s owner Cana Flug by saying, “All funds paid in the settlement will be donated by C.E. John to several nonprofit organizations in Northwest Portland”. I guess that makes everything all better. Cough.
Portland, OR (June 16, 2015) – C.E. John, owner of the Besaw’s Building, and Tuatara Enterprises, Inc., the owner of Besaw’s restaurant, have amicably resolved their pending disputes and agreed upon a settlement regarding future use of the “Besaw’s” name.
As part of the settlement, Tuatara Enterprises agreed to pay an undisclosed amount to C.E. John. Tuatara has the sole right to use the “Besaw’s” name, sign and logo for restaurant services. Cana Flug, president of Tuatara Enterprises, plans to open Besaw’s restaurant by late summer.
C.E. John has the sole right to use the “Besaw’s” name for the building and to name any apartments or condominiums in C. E. John’s planned redevelopment of the Besaw’s building and adjacent property. All other terms of the settlement are confidential.
“With this agreement, we seek to put an end to this dispute while preserving the Besaw’s name for the building. We are pleased to honor its history and maintain its connection with the Slabtown neighborhood. To that end, we fully intend to proceed with plans for our investment in the development of the Besaw’s Building which will feature a neighborhood restaurant maintaining a tradition that spans the better part of the last 112 years,” said James John of C.E. John Company. “Cana Flug has been an excellent operator of the Besaw’s restaurant for the past 10 years and we wish her well in her new location.”
Flug said, “We’re happy to get this dispute behind us and focus on what matters: our loyal customers and the next chapter in the history of Besaw’s restaurant.” She added, “We’ve called this historic property home for 10 years and I appreciate that C.E. John is committed to preserving the building’s history and neighborhood connection and I fully support their redevelopment plans.”Flug and John agreed, “With our agreement, the neighborhood community wins. The Besaw’s Building will get needed improvements including another restaurant to serve the NW neighborhood, and the Besaw’s restaurant can live on in a new location.”
All funds paid in the settlement will be donated by C.E. John to several nonprofit organizations in Northwest Portland.
djonn says
Bizarre. In particular, I don’t see how you make a deal with an “undisclosed” settlement wherein the total amount of the settlement is to be donated to third-party nonprofits. Between the payer’s need to be able to audit/verify that condition and the sorts of records nonprofits are required to keep, anyone with the inclination to do the relevant detective work should be able to put the numbers together.
And unless Flug’s lease contract had a really egregious rights grab written into it, I’d have thought the settlement payment would go the other way. In any normal lease transaction (in which the landlord owns the property while the tenant owns the business), there’s no way the landlord should acquire any interest in the business’s trademarks.
Mike Priwer says
Its hard to know what really happened here. Maybe the cash settlement is $1, or $10, or $101,, from Flug to John. Maybe John is adding another $25,000 , or some large number, and distributing that to NW npo’s. All along I
always thought that Flug had the rights to the name for the restaurant, and I could not imagine John taking that
to court.. Saving the old restaurant facility hardly seems worth the trouble. We were not regular customers, but
did go there from time to time. It would be so much easier to save a few key items, then tear it down , build the
new building, and then place those saved key items in the new building.
Mike Priwer
L. says
Nuts. What a disappointingly pale “solution”.