"The lawyers with the firm represented a company from
the city, the Aloha Poke Co., that had jumped on one of the latest food
trends — selling the Hawaiian staple poke, made from raw marinated ahi
tuna — in 2016 and quickly expanded their reach to more than a dozen
locations in Chicago and cities such as Milwaukee, Denver, and
Washington, D.C.
[Jeffrey] Sampson also operated a poke
shop, a luncheonette of 20 seats that he had opened with three friends
in downtown Honolulu that shared little in common with the Chicago chain
besides the dish and, coincidentally or not, given the commonality of
the Hawaiian word, the name. When Sampson and friends opened the
luncheonette about a year and a half ago, they had named it the Aloha
Poke Shop, using the traditional Hawaiian greeting and word of
welcoming.
Now
the lawyers, with the firm Olson and Cepuritis, Ltd., were demanding
that he change the business’s name, website, logo and materials to cease
using the words “Aloha” and “Aloha Poke” immediately...
In a statement posted on social media, the company said that it had two
federal trademarks for its logo and the words “Aloha Poke,” for any use
connected to restaurants, catering and take out. It took aim at what it
said was misinformation being spread about its intent, and said it
was only trying to stop “trademark infringers” in the restaurant
industry who used the words “aloha” and “poke” in conjunction with one
another."
