Settlement allows pizzerias to digest a piece-ful coexistence

Contrary to what Dean Martin tells us, when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, it’s not always amore, but at least it’s settled.

The saga of two battling New York pizzerias came down to Earth on Thursday after being tossed around in federal court.

U.S. District Judge Brian M. Cogan for the Eastern District of New York signed off on a consent agreement in the case of Famous Joe’s Pizza Inc. v. Famous Joe’s Pizza of the Village Inc., Victor Zarco, John and Jane Does, John Doe Corporations.

Famous Joe's Pizza accused Famous Joe's Pizza of the Village of trademark infringement, deceptive trade practices and unfair competition. 

Among other things, Plaintiff Joe said the walls of Village Joe’s' restaurants and their website displayed news articles about Plaintiff Joe; photographs of celebrity patrons at Plaintiff Joe; and displays, including on social media, depicting the filming of Spiderman 2 at Plaintiff Joe.

Thursday’s settlement cooks up a resolution that slices away further litigation without admission of liability or wrongdoing.

The settlement decree also provides the recipe for how the defendant is to proceed, complete with directions about appropriate signage — right down to the font and the image of the Italian flag — store logo, business cards, napkins, website and the display of photos featuring the likes of Mike Tyson, Robin Williams and Toby Maguire.

And the defendants also agreed to amend the corporate name to delete the words “of the Village” and “Famous,” but they are free to adopt “Joe’s Pizza of Park Slope Inc.” or similar such name.

Now, who’s hungry?