Cereality warns potential copycats

Cereality has begun dishing out more than cereal. It is now issuing a warning to other restaurants: infringing against its trademark protections will result in legal consequences.

The cereal bar and cafe, which has a location at 36th and Walnut streets, has issued letters to three fledgling cereal restaurants, advising them of Cereality's trademarks, trade dress and pending patent.

"Cereality is not saying you can't mix cereals and toppings," Cereality spokeswoman Lisa Kovitz said. "If you do it exactly the way we do, then that is a potential problem."

But Rocco Monteleone, owner of Bowls -- A Cereal Joint, based in Gainesville, Fla., did not even know Cereality existed until he received a notice from the company in May.

"I was kind of blown away that someone else did it," he said.

Monteleone, 38, sold his Italian-American eatery and moved to Gainesville to open the cereal bar -- an idea suggested by one of his former employees. His store serves both organic and traditional cereal choices, as well as various types of milk in porcelain bowls with fruit toppings. Although Monteleone has only seen pictures of Cereality, he said that his business does not resemble it at all.

He referred to his store -- located in an old building near the University of Florida -- as more like an apartment, with tables that don't match. For now, Monteleone is keeping an eye on the status of Cereality's patent process.

His store has also earned the attention of FreeCulture.org, a student organization that currently consists of nine college chapters across the United States, including one at Harvard University. The group has collected 319 online signatures and will submit a petition to Cereality asking the chain to withdraw its patent application.

"Should McDonald's put a patent on putting cheese on a burger?" Florida chapter president Gavin Baker asked. "Business-methods patents are patents on something that doesn't need special protection."

However, Penn Law professor Polk Wagner said that there is no distinction between patenting an invention or a business technique.

"The patent law doesn't really care as long as whatever invention you're trying to patent is novel and non-obvious," he said.

While Cereality may or may not be the first restaurant to turn eating cereal into a unique eating-out experience, others have been quietly observing the phenomenon.

Kenneth Rader, a 2004 graduate of Nova Southeastern University, located in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., noticed the popularity of cereal among college students while spending his first year at Syracuse University.

"We didn't have a kitchen, and we were always snowed in," he said. Cereal was "all we were eating, and everyone in the dorm was eating it."

His observations eventually found their way into The Cereal Bowl, a cereal store that he started with his brother and a childhood friend.

The Cereal Bowl features 20 original creations, more than 50 toppings, 35 cereals and different varieties of milk.

Besides cereal, the cafe also serves trademarked oatmeal smoothies dubbed "Oaties."

Unlike Monteleone, Rader knew about Cereality before opening up his store.

"I'm not worried about it," he said regarding Cereality's warnings. "We were very careful to steer clear of their trademarks."

His lawyers, Kluger, Peretz, Kaplan and Berlin -- a 50-lawyer firm located in Miami -- concluded that he was legally in the clear.

"There really is no confusion," Rader said. "Cereality and The Cereal Bowl are different names."

But when it comes to Cerealogy, the name may be too close for comfort.

That's what Ahmad Choudhry, owner of The Cereal Cabinet, called his business before his lawyer advised him to change it.

"We even wanted to eliminate any possibility of resemblance," he said. His store opens next month.

Choudhry came up with the idea of starting a cereal restaurant after observing that his wife and kids ate cereal as their bedtime snack.

He said that he thought naming his store Cerealogy might bring him trouble, but he liked how the name stuck with students at the nearby University of Iowa.

"Cerealogy means the knowledge of cereal. Sociology, biology and cerealogy," Choudhry said.

Choudhry's lawyer informed him that he would likely receive a letter from Cereality. The notice came in the mail last Wednesday.

"I'm sure that they are going way overboard," he said. "Everyone should be able to serve whatever they want to serve."

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