A Trademark Feud With a Side of Jewish Guilt: ‘Call Your Mother’ Sues ‘Call Your Bubbi’
A trademark lawsuit has been filed, and it’s loaded with Jewish guilt.
Call Your Mother, a popular D.C. bagel chain, has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against a New Jersey deli named Call Your Bubbi, arguing the name is too similar.
According to the lawsuit, Call Your Mother owns federally registered trademarks covering bagels, coffee, and deli-style food offerings. The company claims to position itself around the nostalgia of Jewish family traditions. It now operates 18 locations across Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and Colorado (with plans underway for Florida).
| wdt_ID | wdt_created_by | wdt_created_at | wdt_last_edited_by | wdt_last_edited_at | Trademark | Serial # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MOTHER'S MAY | 99186629 | ||||
| 2 | CALL YOUR MOTHER A JEW-ISH DELI | 88090623 | ||||
| 3 |  |
88090627 | ||||
| 4 |  |
88090629 | ||||
| 5 | CALL YOUR MOTHER | 88090621 |
In the complaint, Call Your Mother highlights the company’s cultural profile, noting that Call Your Mother’s Georgetown store was the first restaurant President Joe Biden visited after taking office in 2021, an accolade the company cites as evidence of growing national recognition.
The lawsuit alleges that despite being aware of Call Your Mother’s trademarks, the New Jersey restaurant adopted the nearly identical name Call Your Bubbi for its own deli, coffee, and restaurant services.
Call Your Mother argues that both names follow the same linguistic structure: each beginning with ‘Call Your’ and ending with a familiar Jewish matriarch.
In Jewish culture, the complaint notes, both “mother” and “bubbi” (grandmother) evoke a sense of warmth, care, and cultural tradition. As a result, the company claims the names convey “a similar connotation” and create “a distinctive, memorable, and source-identifying impression” that could mislead customers.
Upon discovering the Long Branch deli, Call Your Mother sent a cease-and-desist letter in August 2025. According to the lawsuit, it received no reply.
The company is now seeking an injunction that would require the New Jersey business to change its name, as well as pay damages and attorneys’ fees.
How is the case likely to resolve?
As a trademark attorney who grew up in a Jewish family, I can tell you that Call Your Mother and Call Your Bubbi draw from the same emotional well.
Yes, one refers to a mom and the other to a grandmother, but in Jewish culture, both characters play a very similar role: nurturing and scolding at the same time, as well as being central to family life. That shared connotation is exactly what makes this case tricky.
That said, in a trademark infringement lawsuit, the legal question always comes down to whether the average consumer might be confused into thinking that these companies share a common owner.
In other words, if an average customer encountered both delis (even in different states), would they believe the businesses were related or owned by the same company?
Given the matching cadence, parallel structure, and nearly identical cultural messaging, there’s a credible argument that they might.
In this case, geography adds an additional layer of nuance. Call Your Mother is expanding rapidly, but has not yet entered the New Jersey market. That raises a practical question: Could a single Call Your Bubbi location in Long Branch truly interfere with Call Your Mother’s growth, or could both businesses coexist without real marketplace conflict?
If I were helping the parties reach a settlement, I’d consider allowing Call Your Bubbi to continue operating at its single location, while restricting any expansion to new locations or the sale of packaged goods under the Call Your Bubbi brand. That would avoid the existing business from having to undergo a costly rebrand while protecting Call Your Mother’s ability to grow nationally.
The broader lesson for brand owners is clear: businesses with national ambitions need strong federal trademark rights and timely enforcement. As Call Your Mother continues to grow, a similar-sounding deli in a nearby market could become a real obstacle.
Litigation, however, is expensive for everyone involved. One hopes, in the spirit of collective Jewish guilt, that both sides can find a way to resolve their differences without the grandmothers needing to get involved.
Josh Gerben, Esq.
Josh Gerben, Esq. is a nationally recognized trademark attorney and the founder of Gerben IP. Since launching the firm in 2008, he has overseen the registration of over 10,000 trademarks and handled over 1,500 trademark disputes. Josh's practice focuses on building and defending global trademark portfolios for clients. These clients include entrepreneurs, private equity-backed businesses, athletes, celebrities, and public companies. Frequently quoted by major media outlets like CNBC, CNN, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, Josh is widely regarded as a leading authority in trademark law.
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