A new Irish bar is scheduled to open in Austurstræti street, downtown Reykjavík, in February. The bar is called Dead Rabbit – like the award-winning Dead Rabbit cocktail bar located in New York‘s Financial District. According to the NY Daily News, the owners of the original Dead Rabbit are now trying to sue the Icelandic Dead Rabbit for ripping off their name and look.
Sean Muldoon and Jack McGarry say the owners of the Icelandic Dead Rabbit came to the location in NYC and bought the bar’s cocktail book before heading back home – seemingly to open an imitation of the New York bar. A former employee of the “Icelandic counterfeiters” contacted Muldoon to „blow the whistle” on his former bosses.
In an interview with Morgunblaðið newspaper, Andrés Björnsson, who owns the Icelandic Dead Rabbit along with Ómar Ingimarsson, falsely claimed Muldoon and McGarry do not “own the trademark for the name Dead Rabbit” – a reference to the legendary 19th century New York street gang featured in Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York.
Muldoon and McGarry do own the trademark for the “Dead Rabbit” name in the U.S. and are currently working on trademarking the name in Europe – however, Iceland does not fall under either jurisdiction.
“We’ve really, really bled for this place to make it what it is and unless it’s being done to that same level, it worried us,” he said. “If anyone’s going to open another Dead Rabbit, we want it to be us,” Muldoon told NY Daily News.
A new Irish bar is scheduled to open in Austurstræti street, downtown Reykjavík, in February. The bar is called Dead Rabbit – like the award-winning Dead Rabbit cocktail bar located in New York‘s Financial District. According to the NY Daily News, the owners of the original Dead Rabbit are now trying to sue the Icelandic Dead Rabbit for ripping off their name and look.
Sean Muldoon and Jack McGarry say the owners of the Icelandic Dead Rabbit came to the location in NYC and bought the bar’s cocktail book before heading back home – seemingly to open an imitation of the New York bar. A former employee of the “Icelandic counterfeiters” contacted Muldoon to „blow the whistle” on his former bosses.
In an interview with Morgunblaðið newspaper, Andrés Björnsson, who owns the Icelandic Dead Rabbit along with Ómar Ingimarsson, falsely claimed Muldoon and McGarry do not “own the trademark for the name Dead Rabbit” – a reference to the legendary 19th century New York street gang featured in Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York.
Muldoon and McGarry do own the trademark for the “Dead Rabbit” name in the U.S. and are currently working on trademarking the name in Europe – however, Iceland does not fall under either jurisdiction.
“We’ve really, really bled for this place to make it what it is and unless it’s being done to that same level, it worried us,” he said. “If anyone’s going to open another Dead Rabbit, we want it to be us,” Muldoon told NY Daily News.
