Biba’s heirs reach settlement with Italian restaurant over Sacramento chef’s recipes
A legal dispute in which Sacramento’s iconic, now-closed Biba Restaurant had accused an East Sacramento restaurant of stealing its recipes and misappropriating its namesake chef’s legacy has been resolved.
Biba Restaurant in midtown closed permanently in 2020, following Biba Caggiano’s death the prior year and amid California’s ban on in-restaurant dining early in the coronavirus pandemic. The restaurant had operated for 33 years.
June Chang — a former bartender at Biba — and several other former employees in 2021 opened a new Italian restaurant, Mattone Ristorante, on Folsom Boulevard in East Sacramento.
Caggiano’s family filed a lawsuit last June accusing Chang and other defendants of false designation of association, trademark infringement, false advertising and other closely related claims.
The lawsuit was moved from Sacramento Superior Court to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California because the case involved federal trademark law.
Federal court records show both sides’ attorneys signed and filed a motion Feb. 9 to voluntarily dismiss the lawsuit, which was granted the following day.
Larry Kazanjian, a Sacramento-based attorney representing Mattone, said in an emailed response to The Sacramento Bee that the parties reached an “amicable” resolution out of court. Representatives for Biba Restaurant Inc. did not respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit’s resolution was first reported Friday by the Sacramento Business Journal.
The parties in a joint statement said Mattone “will create its own legacy independent from Biba Caggiano and Biba Ristorante whose legacy stands in its own right,” the Sacramento Business Journal reported. Chang has also apologized to the Caggiano family, according to the statement.
The lawsuit had alleged that Chang had first informed the Caggiano family in late 2020 that he planned to open an new Italian restaurant and call it Biba. After discussions with the family, Chang decided on the name “Mattone Ristorante” and the naming dispute ended, the complaint said.
Comments Chang made to The Sacramento Bee for a story published in February 2021 ultimately spurred the lawsuit.
“Biba Restaurant is informed and believes that The Sacramento Bee was intentionally misled into believing that an association exists between Biba Restaurant and Mattone Ristorante through statements that Mr. Chang made to The Sacramento Bee reporter,” the complaint said.
Among other remarks, Chang told The Sacramento Bee last year: “A lot of (people) think Biba went away in May of last year, but it’s going to be continued under a different name.”
The complaint said the defendants “misappropriated Ms. Caggiano’s name and created a false designation of association” and also charged that they had “stolen Biba Restaurant’s trade-secret recipes, including her treasured Lasagne Verdi alla Bolognese.” The complaint claimed Mattone’s menu was “nearly identical to Biba.”
“Mattone will not use Biba Caggiano’s recipes for its dishes, although its staff and ownership have been unquestionably inspired by her legacy,” the two parties said in their joint statement, according to the Sacramento Business Journal. “The Caggiano family wishes the best of luck to Mattone Ristorante.”
This story was originally published February 18, 2022 at 2:09 PM.
