UGP2 sues OH Gelato, alleging its uGOgelato name infringes the UGO restaurant mark

What was filed

The complaint is Document 1, filed October 26, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The case is UGP2, LLC v. OH Gelato LLC et al., No. 2:26-cv-12506. It runs 17 pages. The plaintiff is UGP2, LLC, a California limited liability company with its principal place of business in Culver City, California. The named defendant is OH Gelato LLC, which the complaint alleges on information and belief is an Ohio limited liability company with its principal place of business in Cincinnati, Ohio. Does 1 through 9 are also named. The complaint is signed by Daniel M. Cislo of Cislo & Thomas LLP in Los Angeles and also lists David B. Sandelands. UGP2 demands a jury.

The UGO mark

UGP2 asserts U.S. Trademark Registration No. 3,387,379 for UGO for "restaurants, cafes, catering" in International Class 43. The complaint says the application was filed October 11, 2006, the mark registered on the Principal Register on February 26, 2008, with first use claimed as of July 1, 2003, that a Section 15 declaration of incontestability was acknowledged in 2014, and that the registration has been renewed and remains valid. USPTO TSDR lists UGP2, LLC as owner, shows the registration as live and renewed, with the Section 8 and 15 acceptance dated March 18, 2014, and the renewal dated March 22, 2018. USPTO records also show that the registration issued to an individual, not to UGP2, and that the individual assigned the mark, the registration, the associated goodwill, and the right to sue for past and future infringement to UGP2 by an assignment dated March 1, 2011, and recorded March 28, 2011, at Reel 4508, Frame 0094. The complaint says UGP2 owns and operates, and/or licenses and controls, Southern California restaurants and cafes that feature gelato under the UGO Mark.

What the complaint alleges

The complaint alleges that OH Gelato operates a gelateria at Cincinnati's Findlay Market under the name and mark uGOgelato, opened around 2022, and that it uses UGO as a prominent source-identifying component of that designation, with "gelato" naming a product both parties offer. It alleges that a person it identifies, on information and belief, as OH Gelato's founder, owner, principal, and/or operator represented uGOgelato at Gelato Festival World Masters competitions in Los Angeles in September 2023 and August 2025, placing third in 2023 and in the top three in 2025 while publicly identified with the accused designation. It says UGP2 sent a November 12, 2025, cease-and-desist letter, that the parties discussed the dispute in November and December 2025 without agreement, and that OH Gelato has not stopped using the mark since the letter. It alleges that the parties' marks, goods, and customers overlap and that consumers are likely to believe uGOgelato is connected with UGP2, and it alleges, on information and belief, that the accused activities have caused actual consumer deception.

Claims and relief requested

UGP2 brings four claims: federal trademark infringement under 15 U.S.C. § 1114; false designation of origin and unfair competition under 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a); unfair competition under California Business and Professions Code § 17200 et seq.; and California common-law trademark infringement and unfair competition. The prayer asks the court to adjudge that uGOgelato infringes the UGO Mark and violates 15 U.S.C. §§ 1114 and 1125(a); for preliminary and permanent injunctions against using UGO, uGOgelato, UGO GELATO, or confusingly similar designations; an order to cease using ugogelato.com and related identifiers to the extent authorized; removal or destruction of infringing materials under 15 U.S.C. § 1118; defendant's profits, plaintiff's damages, and costs under 15 U.S.C. § 1117(a); enhanced damages or profits under 15 U.S.C. § 1117; attorneys' fees if the case is exceptional; prejudgment and post-judgment interest; relief under California Business and Professions Code § 17200 et seq.; and other just relief.