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It is amazing how many people are commenting about this when A) they have not seen the complaint and B) they have no idea what the issues are. Inane gossip, speculation, and erroneous conclusions just muddy the waters. The complaint is online and Rebecca Charles is suing for trade dress, identity theft and breach of fiduciary responsibility.

She doesn't claim to have invented anything but HER OWN restaurant, which she is trying to protect.

She doesn't want to stop you from getting your cheaper, closer lobster roll, nor does she lay claim to inventing them, just HER OWN. (Pearl's roll is a completely different animal than the traditional New England shack roll, which is why it's the one everyone copies.)

She couldn't get more customers in the joint and if she were trying to make money, she would have opened several, which brings me to the next point.

It seems McFarland is partnered with businessmen (one a millionaire/political wannabee, according to google) who intend to open of these.

In NYC on biz this week I went to both places for lunch and dinner and ELB looks exactly like Pearl. This is not Ed Levine's bias, it's reality. The paint colors down to the green in the bathroom, gray wainscoting and the white painted brick wall are identical; as are the marble bar and side bar; the beer tap; bathroom furniture; pendant lights; window seat; chairs; floor stain; odd long cabinets behind the bar; glassware, plates, coffee mugs, and doilies; waiter's station; large mirror like Pearl's placed in the same way behind the bar; and the actual layout of the dining room. The placement of the pictures, "sconces," chalkboards, what is written on them and how, menu and wine list are all identical.

Almost every item on Ed's menu is something I have eaten at Pearl in the past or can get today and this includes the lunch menu which no one is mentioning. The presentation of the dishes is identical; the sides are the same, the tartar sauce, the mignonette, etc. The mussel dish and the bouillabaisse (not clam shack dishes) were exactly the same as was Pearl's pot pie. He even makes her blueberry crumble pie. The quality paled but the intent was clear.

I lived in SF for more than a decade, went to Swan all of the time and the restaurants are nothing alike. And anyone familiar with clam shacks knows that Pearl Oyster Bar is much more than that. Tie up all these ends at Ed's and you have AN ILLEGAL FRANCHISE. Right, which I understand is a bit of an esoteric, obsolete concept these days, and the law are on Rebcca's side.

Black Ford comment hysterical but despite an MBA from Wharton, I work in non-profit AIDS fundraising. Addressing the more germane comments above, law and finance firms have rigid “exit” guidelines and policies against poaching clients.

An employee takes their acquired experience to a new job, not steals someone else’s product. And chefs may enjoy a challenge but no one wants a former employee opening a copycat restaurant serving the exact same recipes and presentations in a space designed to look exactly like theirs.

I was a regular at Pearl from the earliest days, and liked both Rebecca and Mary. But Mary herself told me Pearl and its menu came from Rebecca’s love of Maine and that they met when Mary worked as her line cook at another restaurant. The chatty waitresses (I still visit them at MFC) talked frequently about a lawsuit over Pearl’s creation and ownership that Rebecca won very definitively. Mary was subsequently fired and if you can be fired, you are an employee.

As someone considering entering the restaurant fray, I guess I feel a vested interest in this topic. It seems that those in the business of exploiting talent will resist all safeguards while creative chefs will welcome them. Copying thwarts growth in all industries but particularly in artistic mediums. If Mary and Ed had had the courage to open their own restaurant concepts instead of knocking off a “sure thing” they might have made an original contribution to the culinary landscape.

NYKittyNY you, like many others on this post, are missing the very important point that Ed Levine was trying valiantly to make about protections not being in place for chefs. Had this been just about a lobster roll, there would be no issue. It is about a chef who 10 years ago created and entire business entity that was unique to this city and, in fact, the country. I grew up in New England and I can tell you, I never bought any lobster rolls or fried oysters anywhere that are like the ones at Pearl.

Pearl pioneered the upscale clam/lobster shack and THAT is the idea that has been ripped off over and again by chefs in NYC and in other cities. No one is copying the real clam shacks, whose only real draw is that you are on vacation and anything tastes good. (How else do you explain cotton candy and salt water taffy?) To compound matters, the chef has trained and paid 2 employees who were taught all of the trade secrets and recipes who then slunk off and stole the entire concept. This is the incredibly interesting point but it keeps getting lost.

In any other industry this would not be allowed to happen, why are there no protections for chefs? Also, there seems to be a pervasive attitude that there should not be as long as it is easier for you to get your lobster roll. Is it easier with 3 of the same lobster rolls in a 1-mile radius? Sure. Just as it would be cheaper for you to get a bootleg CD, DVD or book but that is not fair to the people who by dint of sacrifice, talent, innovation and hard work created whatever it is they have created.

These two cases Mr. Levine cites are particularly eggregious because they have copied everything from the look and feel of the restaurant, to the business model, to every recipe and probably have an unfair advantage of knowing where to get all of the goods and services. This is the issue and not who has the best lobster roll or the fact that Chef Charles did not invent the lobster roll, which I'm guessing she knows since she grew up in Maine, or something but she should not have to worry that every greedy, or dissatisfied cook who works for her can then go off, steal her concept and damage her business and reputation. Nor should any other chef.

The fact is that two employees left Pearl Oyster Bar and essentially stole the entire menu and business model of their former employer. Ed Levine makes several good points. As someone who used to frequent Pearl Oyster Bar I was amazed to see a former employee knock off the restaurant so entirely. In this case, I refer to Mary's. I have since moved to San Francisco and the first thing I did when I got there was to visit the Swan Oyster Depot specifically because Rebecca Charles always gave them credit for inspiring her to open a small seafood restaurant. Imagine my surprise because it was nothing at all like Pearl! Still it was good in it's own way. But when you borrow, you attribute. A whole menu? That's just stealing.