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Patsy Wars: Patsy's and Patsy's Battle Over Twitter Handle
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Nov 9, 2013
Modified Nov 9, 2013
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By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Nov 9, 2013
Modified Nov 9, 2013
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The Pizza Wars headed uptown this week, with the owners of two different Patsy's—one being East Harlem Patsy's Pizzeria, the other Midtown's Patsy’s Italian Restaurant—going to court over naming rights to a Twitter handle. Yes, a Twitter handle.
The story is a little confusing, what with all the Patsy's swimming around, but here goes: for the past few years, 80-year-old Patsy's Pizzeria in East Harlem has been trying to cut down on all the faux-Patsy's springing up all over town by applying to trademark a bunch of Patsy's-related pizza names. Meanwhile, Patsy's Italian Restaurant in Midtown, which was an old hangout of Frank Sinatra's and does not serve pizza, has laid claim to its own name since 1944; after a lot of legal battling, a judge recently declared that both eateries can exist in harmony as long as neither only calls themselves "Patsy's." Settled!
Nope. Now, East Harlem Patsy's says Midtown Patsy's is violating that order by using the Twitter handle "@patsysnyc." "Honest to God, I don’t know what’s in their mind,” Frank Brija, who runs Patsy's Pizzeria, told the Daily News on Friday. “We’re only selling pizzas, we’re not inventing the wheel, why can’t we just get along?"
Who knows! Both Patsy's are alleging the other Patsy is trying to curb their business, but we'd recommend staying away from a social media fight. Those babies get vicious.
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patsy's italian restaraunt
patsy's pizzeria
Rebecca Fishbein
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