After receiving a cease-and-desist order from Olive Garden’s parent company, blogger Vincent Malone is happy the legal battle is over. And he now has a free dinner out of it.
For years Malone has been writing glowing reviews for Olive Garden through his blog AllOfGarden.com, which chronicles his quest to eat as much Olive Garden pasta as possible.
However, he was taken aback when the restaurant chain’s parent company, Darden, sent him a cease-and desist notification on July 18.
In the email, Darden said there was trademark infringement because Malone used the phrase Olive Garden on his website.
“Darden Corporation has recently learned that the trademark Olive Garden appears as a metatag, keyword, visible or hidden text on the web site…without having obtained prior written authorization from Darden Corporation.
We request that you respond to this e-mail within ten days, informing us that you have removed all metatags, keywords, visible or hidden texts including trademark(s) presently appearing on the above-cited website…or draw this issue to the attention of the appropriate person,” the notification stated.
LISTEN: Newstalk 770’s Rob Breakenridge chats with the blogger behind All Of Garden.
Malone posted the email publicly. In the statement, he said because his blog is a review site he assumed the brand was fair use.
Darden has since dropped the lawsuit and the company gave Malone a $50 gift certificate for one night out for two people.
“I refer to this as my ‘out of court settlement,'” Malone said.
Global News reached out to Olive Garden for a response.
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“The domain was flagged through automated means and the letter was generated. After review, we have determined no action is necessary and have shared that with the recipient,” a spokesperson said.
Despite the legal misunderstanding, Malone said he remains an avid Olive Garden fan.