Contact: Keith Myers

Flour City Bread

Rochester Public Market
585-957-3096

Press Release
Flour City Bread files Petition with the United States Patent and Trademark
Office for cancellation of the Flour City Pasta trademark.
Rochester, NY (October 1, 2015) Flour City Bread, today announced that it has filed a
Petition with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for cancellation of the Flour City
Pasta federal trademark registration.
According to the Petition, the geographically descriptive nickname FLOUR CITY has been
used by over 60 businesses in the Rochester area since the 1850s, when Rochester first
became known as the Flour City. Despite this history, earlier this summer, Flour City Pasta
had its lawyer send cease and desist letters to several local businesses that were using
FLOUR CITY as part of their name and threatened the businesses with lawsuits seeking treble
damages and legal fees if these businesses did not stop using the words FLOUR CITY.
I believe that everyone should have the right to use the name FLOUR CITY for their
businesses. I was shocked that Jon Stadt, the owner of Flour City Pasta, had his lawyer send
me a letter rather than just calling me. We are both small businesses that used the name
FLOUR CITY because of our shared pride in this great city. Jon even sold my bread in his
Pittsford store. Then, without warning I received his lawyers letter declaring that Jon, has

authorized us to pursue appropriate legal action to stop further infringement and seek
appropriate damages. said Keith Myers, owner of Flour City Bread.
Flour City Bread is a bakery located in the Rochester Public Market. It has sold bread and
pastry products using the FLOUR CITY name for over six years. FLOUR CITY is a well-known
nickname for Rochester, NY, a city in western New York State. The nickname originated in the
early 1800s when the citys numerous flour mills made Rochester one the largest flourproducing cities in the world.
Later, the city of Rochester, NY came to be known for its flower nurseries and festivals, and
FLOWER CITY also became a famous nickname. The names are often used interchangeably.
For Immediate Release
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Both spellings of the nickname are presently featured in the City of Rochesters logo. The
design portion of the logo, which dates back to the 1970s, features both a flower and an
abstract water wheel design indicative of the water wheels historically used in Rochesters
flour mills:

We believe that the law is squarely on our side and that the trademark registration should
and will be cancelled. What is hard to believe is that Flour City Pasta would go to these
lengths to prohibit others who are not selling pasta or competing with its business in any way
from using the words FLOUR CITY. It is our position that Flour City Pasta is over reaching the
scope of its federal trademark registration, which never should have been granted in the first
place. If my client was in Boston he might have called his business BeanTown Bread or in
Detroit, Motor City Bread. This is no different. My client loves Rochester, is proud to be
located in the Public Market and to call the Flour City his home. Said Christopher Calabrese,
Esq., attorney for Flour City Bread.
I was forced to make a choice give up the name of my business or stand up and fight for
my small business, employees, other small businesses facing the same threat, and Rochesters
future entrepreneurs who hope to honor our citys heritage by using the name FLOUR CITY. I
decided to stand up and fight for Flour City for all said Keith Myers.
The attorneys for Flour City Bread are:
Alana Fuierer, Esq.
Shanna K. Sanders, Esq.
Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C.
2000 Winton Road South
Rochester, NY 14618
Telephone: (585) 288-4832
Email: amf@hrmflaw.com
sks@hrfmlaw.com

Christopher J. Calabrese, Esq.

Elliott Stern Calabrese LLP
One East Main Street
Rochester, NY 14614
Telephone: (585) 703-5903
Email: chrisc@rochester-law.com