The East Boston restaurant opened in April and offers Italian food and spritzes.
The view from La Tavernetta in East Boston in May 2026. Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe
When La Tavernetta opened its East Boston doors this past April, the founders of the waterfront Italian eatery received a cease-and-desist letter from a Colorado-based restaurant group that same day.
Frasca Hospitality Group, which was founded in Boulder, Colo., has operated a restaurant called Tavernetta in Denver since 2017 and one with the same name in Vail, Colo., since 2024. Now, roughly four months after the letter, a lawsuit alleges the Boston restaurant infringed on its copyright, ultimately confusing customers, according to court records.
FFW IP Holdings, LLC, which owns the trademarks for the Frasca Hospitality Group, is asking a federal court to stop the Boston restaurant from using the name “Tavernetta.” However, the Boston restaurant says differences in the name and location distinguish the two entities.
La Tavernetta, on Lewis Street in East Boston, opened on April 13 as the sister restaurant to MIDA, both of which are owned and operated by restaurateur duo Seth Gerber and chef Douglass Williams. The restaurant, with a name that means “The Little Tavern” in Italian, serves sandwiches, pasta, and spritzes.
Meanwhile, Tavernetta launched in Denver in 2017 and serves similar upscale Italian food. The restaurant group, which has received Michelin recognition and a James Beard semifinalist nod, trademarked the name in April 2018.
“As set forth in the complaint, our goal is for Mida to stop using our name ‘Tavernetta’ in connection with their restaurant,” wrote Mike Laszlo, who represents Frasca Hospitality Group, in an email to Boston.com.
A federal lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Colorado last month by Frasca Hospitality Group alleges the Boston restaurant deliberately infringed on the Colorado restaurants’ copyrighted title, causing confusion among customers and aiming “its conduct at Colorado consumers.”
“Defendant adopted the Infringing Mark … for the purpose of trading on the Colorado-originating and nationwide goodwill of Plaintiff and of capturing and diverting to Defendant the consumers who search online for Plaintiff and its Tavernetta Services (id.),” the complaint reads.
The lawsuit points to online reservation portal OpenTable, which lists both the Massachusetts and Colorado restaurants as Italian restaurants that appear when searching for “Tavernetta.”
This could lead Colorado-based customers to make reservations and transact with the Boston restaurant by accident, the complaint alleges. The lawsuit also customers might believe the Boston restaurant is affiliated with Frasca Hospitality Group.
The lawsuit also notes the similarities between the online web domain name for the restaurants. The websites for the Colorado restaurants are www.tavernettadenver.com and www.tavernettavail.com, while the Boston restaurant uses the domain name www.latavernettaeastie.com.
While a representative for La Tavernetta could not be reached for comment, a firm representing the East Boston restaurant disagreed with the copyright infringement in a letter filed in court. The letter notes the restaurant’s concept developed out of its proximity to MIDA in East Boston.
“It is, in form and function, the ‘little tavern’ beside MIDA,” the letter reads.
The letter points to the use of “La Tavernetta by MIDA” in promotional materials, which it says differentiates the location from the Colorado restaurant group. The letter also says that restaurant patrons pay attention to name, location and affiliation, therefore decreasing the likelihood of confusion.
According to the lawsuit, Frasca Hospitality Group is asking the court for compensation in the form of damages and La Tavernetta’s profits. The restaurant group is also asking the court to stop La Tavernetta from using the trademarked name.
Court records do not show that La Tavernetta has been served, and no further court dates are set.
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