Las Vegas diner in dispute with large SoCal chain over name

Norman Chan owns a struggling mom-and-pop diner in Las Vegas serving up “the best eggs benedict in town,” but now he’s being served legal papers by a Southern California chain with a similar name.

The 12-table diner situated in a small strip mall in the Spring Valley neighborhood now goes by NORMan’s Diner after a multi-year legal dispute with the diner chain NORMS Restaurant.

And it’s not over, Chan said.

After changing his 17-year-old diner’s name from NORM’S Diner in 2021 at the request of the chain, Chan said he had until Monday to change the name of his diner and the signage again to Norman’s or face a lawsuit.

“I’m kind of feeling like I don’t know what to do and feeling kind of picked on, especially now that business is so bad, and I have to deal with this,” Chan said.

Ingrid Martinez, vice president of marketing for NORMS Restaurant, told the Review-Journal that the chain’s customers are confused by the similar names of the restaurants, as the chain opened its first Las Vegas restaurant last fall.

When people type in Norm’s it redirects to him, she said.

“These are very small asks,” said Martinez. “We want to work with Norman, but people are getting confused with the name.”

Legal battle

Chan first opened his restaurant in 2008 as Norm’s Egg Cafe. He changed the name to his lifelong nickname — NORM’s Diner — in 2016 when he relocated to 3945 S. Durango Drive. The business is incorporated as Norm’s LLC.

Chan said he was first approached by NORMS Restaurant on Jan. 18, 2021, when he received a cease and desist letter from Hankin Patent Law on behalf of the company. The letter stated Chan was infringing on the chain’s trademarked name and ordered him to change it.

NORMS Restaurant, founded in 1949 as one of the first 24/7 restaurants in Southern California, is a diner chain with 23 locations in Orange, Riverside and Los Angeles counties. In October, it opened its first Las Vegas location north of the Strip, marking the first expansion out of California.

The company remained family owned until 2014, when it was bought by CapitalSpring, an investment firm solely dedicated to the restaurant industry.

NORMS says it owns the trademark for “NORMS,” which is where the dispute with Chan stems.

Chan said he responded around a week later, to the cease and desist, saying he “never intended to circumvent any common good faith conduct” and invited them to a call or meeting at his restaurant about it.

“I told them, ‘first of all, my diner is a neighborhood diner and I have 12 tables,’” said Chan. “I don’t see how I can cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages.”

Despite his response and invitation, the attorneys denied any of Chan’s “good faith” negotiating, he said. Chan said he was told the lawyers were prepared to pursue the issue “to the fullest extent of the law.”

Chan said he didn’t have the money to hire an attorney to defend his restaurant, with his business struggling post-pandemic, even at one point contemplating selling his restaurant. So, he had to comply, he said.

After more back-and-forth, Chan said he continued to invite the attorneys to his diner, and agreed to change his name from NORM’S to NORMAN’S, to which the patent attorneys approved on Feb. 19, 2021.

“I was here over 10 years already, using NORM’S, but I told them, ‘I don’t have legal funds to to oppose you,’ so I’m just going to go ahead and change it,” said Chan.

In his own twist, Chan said he decided to change his restaurant’s name from NORM’S Diner to NORMan’s Diner, assuming it would no longer infringe on the trademark.

On March 22, 2021, Chan said he was sent a draft settlement from the attorneys, but it requested he sign over his Nevada LLC to them in order to comply with the trademark. Chan said he replied, “I will do no such thing.”

Later, Chan said he would change all association with the name NORMS by July 31, 2021, which was later extended to Sept. 20, 2021 due to delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to emails obtained by the Review-Journal.

“I paid for all the changes, my signage, all my media, all my uniforms, everything I changed it to NORMan’s,” said Chan.

Overall, it cost him upwards of $10,000, he said.

For two years, NORMS Restaurant and their attorneys laid dormant, not responding to Chan’s changes, until Feb. 21, 2023.

Two years later, the larger company was still unsatisfied with the changes, specifically with the upper case “NORM” and lowercase “an,” still claiming it was an infringement on their copyright, Chan said.

Chan responded, saying to the Review-Journal, “I was mad and didn’t care anymore,” and was prepared to fight them, but the attorneys stopped responding to him.

NORMS Restaurant moves to town

In their first move out of Southern California, NORMS Restaurant landed in the valley in October at 4605 W. Charleston Blvd. That’s when Chan said he started to hear from the restaurant chain again.

According to Chan, NORMS Restaurant CEO Mike Colonna visited his establishment just before Christmas looking for him. Chan wasn’t in the diner, so Colonna left his business card.

“I called him to see what he wanted, and he says, ‘I’m here in town now, and I’m not going to be so lenient with you’ and ‘I don’t like the way your sign is,’” Chan said.

Chan said he insisted his name was different, now going by his full name, but Colonna called the diner again saying they were going to pursue legal action.

On Dec. 9, Chan was sent another complaint letter from Hankin demanding the “orman’s” be spelled out in all lowercase, claiming the use of “NORMan’s” was “an attempt to circumvent what was agreed to.” Also attached was a draft legal complaint preparing to sue Chan for trademark infringement and unfair competition.

“Now that our client has opened a restaurant in Las Vegas, it has been experiencing actual consumer confusion resulting from your continuing Willful Trademark Infringement,” said the letter to Chan.

When searching online for NORMS Restaurant or NORMan’s Diner, both locations will pop up, which Colonna did not like, according to Chan.

“I cannot imagine that after their CEO Mr. Colonna visited my establishment in November that he would still consider my 12-table diner as a threat to their restaurant,” said Chan.

Chan claims he missed the original letter in his email and was resent it by the attorneys on April 11, that included a demand letter and a draft legal complaint to be filed if he does not comply.

Chan said he had to comply.

“I can’t fight him,” said Chan. “But, what’s to stop him from not liking my change again and making me change it, again? I told them that I would change inside my restaurant, all my social media and but I’m not changing my sign because I don’t have the money change my sign right now.”

And, that he did. In an email, he said he would change all his branding to Norman’s, but he does not have the funds to pay to change the signage outside.

Contact Emerson Drewes at edrewes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @EmersonDrewes on X>