In sad news for pancake-lovers everywhere, the famed American restaurant chain International House of Pancakes have dropped their trade mark infringement action against the International House of Prayer over its use of the IHOP acronym, agreeing to resolve the dispute out of court (see our previous post here).
In late December, the restaurant chain filed a notice of dismissal in its case against the church, with its lawyers citing “ongoing mediation with the defendants”, according to documents filed in federal court in Los Angeles. Although this may not spell the end of the dispute if a settlement cannot be reached – the dismissal “without prejudice” means that the lawsuit could be refiled later.
Interestingly, the church never filed a response to the restaurant’s lawsuit and its main website is still at ihop.org. Neither party has publicly discussed expected outcomes or a timeline for the matter to be resolved, but rest assured we will continue to update you as this dispute progresses.
