Are they for real?

MTA blasts bagel shop's
shmear tactics

BY JOYCE SHELBY
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Fouad Assad (l.) and Ahmad Sahman, two of the four co-owners of Carroll
Gardens F Line bagel shop, reversed all their logos after catching heat
from MTA over trademark issues.
Just as there once was an Artist Formerly Known as Prince, there's now a
Carroll Gardens bagel shop formerly known as F Line.

After the bagel shop at Smith and Ninth Sts. got into a dispute with the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority, store owners decided to switch
rather than continue a costly court fight.

Three weeks ago, they took down the white neon F inside an orange circle
that was identical to the MTA symbol used for the F subway line across
the street.

Next week, a neon sign with a big, backward F is going up at the bagel shop.

"People can pronounce it any way they want. It'll be kind of like Toys
'R' Us," said Ahmad Samhan, one of the shop's four owner-partners.

"This is nonsense," said customer Roxana Perdomo of the MTA's dispute
with the shop.

There's no way the bagel shop sign could be confused with the subway
entrance. "The deli is clean and accessible," Perdomo quipped.

It takes two escalators and 36 steps to reach the aging Smith-Ninth St.
platform for the F and G trains.

Problems at the bagel shop began after it opened a year ago, decorated
with subway signs and other memorabilia the owners purchased online from
the MTA for $1,000.

Charging that using the signs amounted to a trademark smear the MTA
argued the bagel shop should either stop using the memorabilia or pay a
licensing fee.

For a while, it seemed the two sides had come to an agreement. But the
deal fell apart when owners said they just couldn't come up with the cash.

In November, a Manhattan Supreme Court judge gave the bagel shop 60 days
to remove or cover the MTA items.

"We're in compliance," said co-owner Fouad Assad. Inside the shop, every
number or letter referring to a subway line has been reversed, with the
exception of the letter A.

Owners are hoping the reversals won't get them into more hot water.

"We can't assume another unplanned financial burden," Assad said. The
four partners spent $7,000 for the first neon sign and don't know how
much the new neon F will cost.

MTA spokesman said Tom Kelly said he didn't know what the final outcome
would be.

"It doesn't pertain to us anymore," Kelly said. "The court ordered them
to take the signs down."




What about that place in Times Square that looks like an old
train car. Here in Brooklyn on the corner of Avenue X & Mac Donald
there the FX cafe?

Bolwerk wrote:
> They should sue Subway!


They can't since SUBWAY is another term for hero sandwich.

Next time one goes into a SUBWAYs ask for a hero, when they ask
which one just say "Oh Superman, Batman, James Bond"

Steven M. O'Neill wrote:
>
> Vince <holvbphoto@> wrote:
> >Bolwerk wrote:
> >> They should sue Subway!
> >
> >They can't since SUBWAY is another term for hero sandwich.
>
> Um, I've heard it called a "sub" or a "submarine" but never a
> "subway". Not even at Subway.

The maps in their wallpaper are pre-MTA. I think they're Rand McNally.
--
Peter T. Daniels grammatim@att.net

Steven M. O'Neill wrote:

> Steven M. O'Neill <steveo@panix.com> wrote:
>
>>Vince <holvbphoto@> wrote:
>>
>>>Bolwerk wrote:
>>>
>>>>They should sue Subway!
>>>
>>>They can't since SUBWAY is another term for hero sandwich.
>>
>>Um, I've heard it called a "sub" or a "submarine" but never a
>>"subway". Not even at Subway.
>
>
> Sure, but I find the logo confusing and once I tried to catch a
> train at the theater and ended paying $75 for a seat.
>
You didn't hurt yourself did you? lol

Steven M. O'Neill wrote:

> Vince <holvbphoto@> wrote:
>
>>I don't know what part of Brooklyn you live Steven, but I'm
>>sure you know down here we have letter avenues pretty much
>>D to Z, BUT no Avenue Q, odd.
>
>
> Looks like there's a Quentin Road where Avenue Q wants to be.
>
> I ride by there when I'm on my way to the beach.
>


True but its not AVENUE Q and besides west of East 15th St its south
of Kings Highway, and East of East 15th its North of Kings Highway.

Bolwerk wrote:

> Vince wrote:
>
>> Bolwerk wrote:
>>
>>> They should sue Subway!
>>
>>
>>
>> They can't since SUBWAY is another term for hero sandwich.
>>
>> Next time one goes into a SUBWAYs ask for a hero, when they ask
>> which one just say "Oh Superman, Batman, James Bond"
>
>
> DC Comics, Marvel Comics, the MTA, and Fictional British Intelligence
> should all sue Subway then.


EON is the company that does the 007 films

"Vince" <holvbphoto@> wrote in message
news:_TtGf.58$jz1.17@fe12.lga...
> Steven M. O'Neill wrote:
>
> > Vince <holvbphoto@> wrote:
> >
> >>I don't know what part of Brooklyn you live Steven, but I'm
> >>sure you know down here we have letter avenues pretty much
> >>D to Z, BUT no Avenue Q, odd.
> >
> >
> > Looks like there's a Quentin Road where Avenue Q wants to be.
> >
> > I ride by there when I'm on my way to the beach.
> >
>
>
> True but its not AVENUE Q and besides west of East 15th St its south
> of Kings Highway, and East of East 15th its North of Kings Highway.

That is Kings Highway's problem. Not Quentin Road's. And it is a result of
quite a bit of history.

Sancho Panza wrote:
> "Vince" <holvbphoto@> wrote in message
> news:_TtGf.58$jz1.17@fe12.lga...
>
>>Steven M. O'Neill wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Vince <holvbphoto@> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>I don't know what part of Brooklyn you live Steven, but I'm
>>>>sure you know down here we have letter avenues pretty much
>>>>D to Z, BUT no Avenue Q, odd.
>>>
>>>
>>>Looks like there's a Quentin Road where Avenue Q wants to be.
>>>
>>>I ride by there when I'm on my way to the beach.
>>>
>>
>>
>>True but its not AVENUE Q and besides west of East 15th St its south
>>of Kings Highway, and East of East 15th its North of Kings Highway.
>
>
> That is Kings Highway's problem. Not Quentin Road's. And it is a result of
> quite a bit of history.
>
>
>
OK would you care to tell us more about this history?