NY, Vegas TAOs Say ME Tao Hijacked Their Name

UPDATED
Open the website for three-level, 300-seat TAO New York and get a video of bikini-clad revelers in a giant pool. The homepage for 40-seat, family run Tao in Brunswick features a simple, and different, logo and white text on a black background. And yet, according to The Portland Press Herald, the company that owns the enormous New York and Las Vegas TAOs, frequented by celebrities such as P. Diddy and Beyonce, is suing chef Cara Stadler and her partners, parents Cecile and John Stadler, for, "among other things, trademark dilution and infringement, unfair competition and cybersquatting."

Cecile Stadler ... said the "tao" in Tao Restaurant means "peach" and is based on a Chinese fable about a fisherman who unexpectedly finds a secluded utopia in a peach grove. The "tao" that draws celebrities in New York and Las Vegas, she said, is a different Chinese character, associated with Taoism ... There would never be any confusion, Stadler said.

· Vegas Nightclub Company Sues Maine Restaurant Over Name [PPH]

[Photo: Brunswick Maine Daily blog]