Cleveland Zoo Sues Pittsburgh Zoo Over Asian Lantern Festival

CLEVELAND — The Asian Lantern Festival is spurring a lawsuit between zoos in Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

The Cleveland Metroparks filed a lawsuit this week against their counterparts in Pittsburgh after the latter launched plans for its own Asian Lantern Festival this summer, according to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Cleveland.

The Asian Lantern Festival has been a staple of the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo since 2018. More than 1,000 lanterns, live acrobatic performances and culturally-inspired cuisine come to the zoo for the event.

In April 2018, the Cleveland Metroparks signed an agreement with Tianyu Arts & Culture to present the light show. The two entities would strike a subsequent agreement bringing additional Asian Lantern Festivals to the zoo.

Prior to naming the event, the Cleveland Metroparks said in its lawsuit, officials ensured no other entities were using the name Asian Lantern Festival. In 2020, the organization used 41 percent of its advertising budget — more than $161,000, according to the lawsuit — on advertising the Asian Lantern Festival.

In 2020, officials from the Pittsburgh Zoo came to Cleveland to attend the Asian Lantern Festival, the lawsuit said. They were there to determine if they would launch their own festival in coming years.

Pittsburgh Zoo officials subsequently announced their own Asian Lantern Festival set to debut in August 2021. Cleveland Metroparks officials said they never gave permission for the other zoo to use that name and the Pittsburgh show is not sponsored by Cleveland's festival, the lawsuit
stated.

The Pittsburgh Zoo is also accused of using photos from the Cleveland Asian Lantern Festival to create advertisements for the Pittsburgh show.

"Cleveland Metroparks emailed Pittsburgh Zoo, informed Pittsburgh Zoo that Cleveland Metroparks has cultivated trademark rights to Asian Lantern Festival and requested that Pittsburgh Zoo rebrand its event," the lawsuit stated.

When that letter went unanswered, the Cleveland Metroparks sent a cease and desist letter to the Pittsburgh Zoo. Subsequently, attorneys for the Pittsburgh Zoo responded, saying the event would not be renamed this year.

In a motion filed with the court, the Pittsburgh Zoo argued that the term "Asian Lantern Festival" was generic, used by dozens of events, and could not be trademarked by the Cleveland Metroparks.

"The term 'Asian Lantern Festival' is or has been used in the past three years for similar events at the Louisville Zoo, the Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens, the Reid Park Zoo in Tucson Arizona, and the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines, Iowa, along with the related term "Asian
Lantern Spectacular" for a similar event at Roger Williams Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island," the motion filed by the Pittsburgh Zoo said.

A copy of the Cleveland Metroparks' complaint is below, as is a copy of the Pittsburgh Zoo's rebuttal.

Attorneys for both parties did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment.

Story: Chris Mosby/Patch

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