Vanderpump Rules Stars Sandwich Shop “Something About Her” Trademark Drama Explained
Vanderpump Rules fans, your time has come! Two of our favorite girls from Vanderpump Rules, Katie Maloney and Ariana Madix, have officially opened their sandwich shop in Los Angeles, California. As I’m sure you know, the shop's name is “Something About Her” and we’ve all been watching this go from an idea that Katie thought of a few seasons ago, to an up-and-running sandwich shop!
Anyone who has watched the show knows that it has not exactly been smooth sailing for Katie and Ariana to get this shop open. Now, despite its opening, they are still stuck in a trademark battle over “Something About Her” with their former Chef, Penny. As a quick refresher, Penny was brought in to help before the opening of the shop with menu curation and other tasks and has previously helped LVP on some of her business ventures.
Now, my best recommendation for any small business owner is always to have a trademark consultation with a lawyer as early as possible for your business, and preferably, before you launch the business or ever publicly announce the name. Obviously, that is not what happened here… and that brings us to the legal drama.
What happened?
In August, 2023, Chef Penny filed a trademark application for “Something About Her” for restaurants. Since the shop had not yet opened, it was filed as an intent-to-use application, meaning the proof that the name is being used in connection with the applied-for services needs to be shown during the application process, rather than with the initial application.
Here is the record of Chef Penny’s application ⤵️
Oddly, Penny listed the owner of the trademark application as her own LLC, Put A Fork In It LLC, a California-based LLC. This is not typical, as the owner of the trademark application is usually the business entity associated with the business, which in this case, would have been Katie and Ariana’s LLC, not Chef Penny’s. The application was also filed by Chef Penny’s husband, a lawyer.
Back in March, I posted a reel about this pending application. At the time, it was unclear whether Chef Penny was still working with Katie and Ariana or if there were issues, but the short version of what I’ve been saying is that for Penny to get a registered trademark for “Something About Her” she would need to show proof that she is using that brand for restaurants. As we now know their relationship has broken down, she won’t be filing the proof of use for the open “Something About Her” sandwich shop.
We don’t know what has happened behind the scenes, but I think it is safe to say that Penny is not interested in settling quickly and giving the pending trademark application to Katie and Ariana, because she has now sued them for a contract dispute as well.
Katie and Ariana Take Action:
Katie and Ariana filed an extension of time to oppose Penny’s pending application when Penny’s application went to publication, there period where third parties are allowed to oppose. They have until the end of September 2024 to file a Notice of Opposition to attempt to stop Penny from registering the trademark. Although as mentioned above, Penny would still have to show proof she is using the brand for restaurant services to ever get her own registered trademark, which is unlikely.
Katie and Ariana also finally filed a trademark application for “Something About Her” in July 2024. They filed for restaurants, of course, but also for catering services, clothing, fragrances, tote bags, candles, and cases for mobile phones. The USPTO is currently taking about 9 months to begin their initial review of applications, so we won’t expect to have an update on their application until sometime in 2025.
An important point to note for small business owners is that you never want to have someone else apply ahead of you, as Penny has in this instance. Although Katie and Ariana filed for an extension of time to oppose, and will likely file a Notice of Opposition, this is NOT ideal. Opposition proceedings can take a long time (years) and can be expensive (I’m talking hundreds of thousands of dollars potentially). Although it is filed with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, it is similar to a court proceeding (long & costly).
The main takeaway here?
If you have a brand or are looking to build a brand, schedule a trademark consultation as early as possible. You always want to be the first one to file and you never want to assume someone else out there has not already filed for something that could be similar enough to cause you problems.