Four Seasons Project ‘Landmark’ Sued In Naming Lawsuit

The highly anticipated Major Food Group revamp of the Four Seasons just hit a snag. The Post reports today that chef Marc Murphy is suing the Torrisi triumvirate for naming their new Four Seasons restaurant Landmark — saying that it sounds “confusingly similar” to his two French and Italian bistros Landmarc.

Murphy and his company Anvil NY filed a federal lawsuit demanding that Major Food Group and its investors stop using any version of the name “Landmark” when referring to their big new project in the Seagram Building. From the Post:

Murphy’s lawsuit complained that the Seagram’s Landmark will cause confusion because diners won’t be able to differentiate between them, especially in conversation.

“When pronounced, the words Landmark and Landmarc are phonetically identical,” the lawsuit pointed out.

Also, the Seagram’s Landmark will only be one mile away from the Landmarc in the Time Warner Center, and it will be “marketed to the same type of customers, seeking high quality fine dining in New York City,” the lawsuit said.

Landmarc has locations in the Time Warner Center and in Tribeca. The outpost downtown has been open for more than a decade and is a stalwart of NYC dining. Major Food Group did not comment on the story.

MFG has named their collection of restaurants at the historic space the Landmark Rooms, or Landmark for short. Mario Carbone, Jeff Zalaznick, and Rich Torrisi will be opening three separate restaurants total in the building, including an American chophouse-themed one called The Grill, a seafood restaurant called The Pool, and a ground-floor one called Lobster Club. The Grill is expected to open first, in April, while the other debut should be opening later this year. They’re likely to be the most closely watched restaurant openings in 2017.

Earlier this week, they revealed more details about the debut, which will likely be outrageous and theatric.

• Celeb chef Marc Murphy suing over ‘confusingly similar’ restaurant name [NYP]