Mexican restaurants in fight over Tulcingo name

Tulcingo Mexican Restaurant of Monroe, which has been in business for 16 years, has been sued for trademark infringement for using a name similar to a Queens enterprise.

Eduardo Pita sued the restaurant and its owner Jose Herrera for at least $2.1 million, in a complaint filed July 3 in U.S. District Court in White Plains.

Pita, of Corona, Queens, claims he has used the Tulcingo name for restaurants, groceries, bakeries and delis in Queens and the Bronx since 1994.

Herrera incorporated his business in 2004, according to a state Division of Corporations record.

But Pita, according to his complaint, had registered Tulcingo as a trademark in 2002.

Tulcingo de Valle is a small town in the Mexican state of Puebla in southeastern Mexico known for a spicy version of Poblano cuisine.

Pita claims that his Tulcingo trademark is well-recognized in New York and beyond and that he has spent substantial amounts of money promoting it.

Herrera”™s use of the name is “confusingly similar,” he claims, and tarnishes the trademark.

Pita accused his Mexican restaurant rival in Monroe of trademark infringement, unfair competition, cybersquatting for using a similarly named website, deceptive acts, false advertising and unjust enrichment.

He is asking the court to stop Herrera from using the Tulcingo designation. He is demanding $100,000 for the alleged cybersquatting, $2 million per infringement and other damages.

On the same day he sued Herrera, Pita sued Eduardo Lucero Velazques and his San Jose Tulcingo Restaurant in the Bronx, alleging the same trademark violations.

Pita is represented by Manhattan attorney Abigail Nitka.