May 9, 2021
NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (
WBZ NewsRadio) —Two donut shops along the South Coast are battling after a trademark dispute — not over a secret recipe, but rather, over a name.
"Ma's Donuts" of New Bedford had been around for 61 years when its owners, the Lemieux family, decided to close down in 2016. Upon taking the steps to reopen in February, the family said it discovered that the trademark for their name had already been taken by a Middletown, Rhode Island business.
A search of the U.S. Trademark database confirmed that "Ma's Donuts and more" had been bought in 2017 by Leite Donuts, Inc.