Magnolia Bakery Owners Sue Over Greek Cupcake Shop

by Jessie Cacciola, Posted Mar 25th 2011 @ 1:00PM

Magnolia Bakery cupcakes Photo: sunshinecity, Flickr

Carrie Bradshaw's favorite bakery has found itself in the middle of its own melodrama. The owners of Magnolia Bakery, the Manhattan cupcake shop made famous by Sex & the City, are suing one of its founders, Jennifer Appel, for opening an illegal branch in Athens, Greece, reports Daily Mail UK.

The charges in the suit are a little bit hazy, but first, some history: Magnolia first opened its now-iconic doors in Manhattan in 1996 with Appel and Allysa Torey as co-owners, but Appel sold her share in 1999 and set up a competing shop: the Buttercup Bake Shop. In 2007, Steve and Tyra Abrams bought the rights to Magnolia and expanded its locations (you can now find Magnolia outposts in L.A. and Dubai -- yes, Dubai).

The lawsuit comes courtesy of the Abrams' -- they claim Appel allegedly shared business secrets and recipes with Greek socialite Nicole Kotovos in order to open their own branch in Greece last year. But Appel denies the charges. In fact, she's counter-suing.

Appel claims Kotovos tricked her into handing over the Magnolia concept. (See, we told you the lawsuits don't make total sense.)

What does Kotovos say about all this? "My store in Athens is called Hamptons Cupcakes [...] I hired Jennifer as a consultant to open the store. I have no comment other than that I am not liable to anyone," reports Daily Mail UK. Maybe, but the Abrams' are also suing over Kotovos' registration of the domain magnoliacupcakes.gr. Suspicious, yes?

That URL now turns up as "page not found," but the site for Hamptons Cupcakes works just fine -- and the cupcakes shown do look a lot like Magnolia's, with piles of pale pastel buttercream. But can you prove cupcake copycatting?

Hm, how would Carrie say this in Greek? "I couldn't help but wonder... was it a sincere form of flattery, or are we all a little guilty of interfering in a contract, unfair competition and alleged trademark infringement."

Filed Under: Business, Bakeries
Tags: featured, magnolia bakery, magnolia greece, sex in the city

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

3-25-2011 @2:42PM Dan Rich said... I would say this is probably not a trademark infringement case, since I doubt Magnolia ever filed for a mark on a buttercream cupcake. Probably copyright infringement.
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3-25-2011 @5:20PM Noadi said... No, but registering the domain seems like a pretty clear case of trademark infringement. As far as the cupcakes go, they might have a case for stealing trade secrets which is actionable if it was done through improper means (and buying them from a former owner would certainly qualify, she gave up the rights to those trade secrets when she left).

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3-25-2011 @7:09PM Laura said... Get them to quit the domain name, but seriously, Greece is a long way from NYC, pastel buttercream is nothing new and I have the Magnolia Cupcake recipe. Not exactly a trade secret seeing as it's in their cookbook.
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