Ranch at Laguna Beach faces trademark infringement claim

A U.S. District Court judge last week set a trial date in a trademark infringement claim by the owner of the Anaheim-based Ranch Restaurant and Saloon that accuses the company that owns The Ranch at Laguna Beach of capitalizing on the name to promote business for its hotel and golf course in Aliso Canyon.

Gary Hecker, the attorney representing the Ranch Restaurant and Saloon, also alleges unfair competition and asks Laguna Beach Golf & Bungalow Village LLC to cease all activities using the name “The Ranch.”

A jury trial is scheduled to begin April 26, 2016, according to Judge Cormac Carney’s order issued Dec. 10.

Longtime Laguna resident and business owner Mark Christy is the principal investor in Laguna Beach Golf & Bungalow, which purchased the Aliso Creek Inn & Golf Course in June 2013 and renamed the facility The Ranch at Laguna Beach.

The Anaheim venue, owned by Andrew Edwards, claims it has federal trademark registration of “The Ranch” for, among other things, restaurant and bar services, entertainment, and educational services in the field of food and wine, according to the complaint.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office registered “the Ranch Restaurant and Saloon” in October 2012, according to the agency’s website.

The Ranch’s restaurant has received top billing from Zagat.

The complaint said the “defendant’s unauthorized use of plaintiff’s trademark ‘The Ranch’ in commerce in connection with services identical and substantially identical to those of plaintiff is likely to cause confusion, mistake and to deceive.”

“It’s very dangerous if people are confused what facility they are going to,” Hecker said.

Christy declined to comment.

Other businesses use “Ranch” in their names, including The Ranch at Live Oak Malibu, a wellness spa, and the Ojai Ranch House restaurant.

A key factor that judges consider is whether the consumer will be confused, said Anne LaLonde, a trademark law attorney and author on the topic.

“Courts look at whether the consumer thinks that these two places are run by the same company,” LaLonde said. “If someone has a bad experience at one place ... the one party has no control over what happens at the other company.”

That doesn’t mean a person couldn’t open a horse ranch next to the restaurant and use the word “Ranch” in the name, because it accurately describes the business, LaLonde said.

Judges also consider a company’s logo and whether consumers could become confused, LaLonde said.

The Ranch Steakhouse seeks unspecified damages, and demands that the Ranch at Laguna Beach return all profits obtained through use of the name and pay its attorney fees.

It is possible the case will never reach the courtroom.

Of 3,294 trademark infringement cases from March 31, 2013, to March 31, 2014, only 1.3% — 42 — actually reached trial, LaLonde wrote in a follow-up email.

The allegations are the latest hurdle for The Ranch at Laguna Beach, which awaits a California Coastal Commission hearing on renovations to its 23 detached hotel suites, work that is already underway.

Earlier this year crews began stripping the buildings to their wood frames in preparation for installing sprinklers for fire safety and adding insulation to walls, said Christy, who received a building permit from the city last December.

The Laguna Beach Planning Commission approved the project in May, but a month later resident Mark Fudge appealed plans to the Coastal Commission.

Fudge alleges the project lacked sufficient environmental review and wonders whether the city’s stock of affordable housing could be diminished with the renovation.

Christy said the project is not creating any additional square footage since work is contained within existing framework.