She owns three cupcake shops in Las Vegas. He owns three in Texas.
She’s his niece and he’s her uncle. They used to be business partners, but now they’re on opposite sides of business litigation.
Pamela Jenkins owns the trio of Cupcakery stores in the Las Vegas metro and her uncle, Ricky Perritt, owns the three in Dallas, Houston and Frisco, Texas.
He has sued her twice over disputes in the business they used to own jointly and has recently filed another suit.
In the new lawsuit, he’s alleging that she’s not paying her share of $8,000 in legal fees the pair incurred when suing a former employee over trademark infringement.
According to the Las Vegas Sun, Perritt also claims Jenkins is threatening to shutter The Cupcakery Web site, which he says in his suit would damage his business.
In response to the latest legal action, Jenkins released a statement that said, in part: “It is not, and never has been, my intent to limit the use of the word ‘cupcakery’ or purport to own the word, as my former partner is attempting to do. As I have received numerous requests nationwide regarding the phenomenon of cupcakes, the word ‘cupcakery’ and other cupcake-related questions of late, I felt it was the right time to share the glory of The Cupcakery and all cupcakeries freely.”
Jenkins and her partners, along with Perritt, founded The Cupcakery in 2005. Perritt lent her $95,000 for her share of start-up costs.
Disputes between Jenkins and her partners resulted in Perritt paying $225,000 to buy the partners out, he claims in his suit.
Later, when disputes between the uncle and niece materialized, the pair sliced the business in half, with each getting three stores.
Jenkins says she doesn’t want to take down the Cupcakery Web site, but rather cut it into separate pieces so that her shops are no longer associated with his shops.
Resource: Las Vegas Sun: “Cupcakery owner hoping for an end to trademark disputes”: January 20, 2011
