bitch fight?
So apparently, there's some dude out in the internets making some claims surrounding minsoo's sexual orientation due to his website persona. It's pretty freaking hilarious. Anyway, here's a discussion between me and hannah on what to do about this little ahem, problem...
SIL: i think it's hilarious someone thinks my brother is gay
SIL: LOL
Wai-Ling: i wanna meet that guy
SIL: kick his ass jo
Wai-Ling: i'll be like, hey sweetie... BACK OFF!
SIL: hhahha
Wai-Ling: then we'll get in a bitch fight
SIL: wor
SIL: d
SIL: the don't call you spunky jo jo for nothing
Wai-Ling: you'd have my back right?
Wai-Ling: heeeeyyyy
SIL: i got your back. i'll cut him.
Wai-Ling: with the shank you carry in your laptop bag?
SIL: hell yeah
Wai-Ling: i like that i have a bad-ass sister in law
SIL: i think when you meet me, the first thing you think is-- she's a bad ass
Wai-Ling: or at least one that talks a good game
Wai-Ling: i know, you do come off as a badass. it just emanates from you
SIL: fake it till you make it
11/28/2006
behind the chicken
A soured Father-Son Parnership, murder and gyros...For those of you in LA who love chicken with garlic butter (aka garlic-flavored crisco), here's a story about the family behond our beloved Zankou. I drove by the site of the new westside location everyday on my way to school, waiting for it to open. After reading this story, I will never look at my tarna chicken plate the same.
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
Monday, November 20, 2006
Page 1
‘Zankou Chicken’ Trademark Remained With Founders Of Restaurant, Not Their Son—Court of Appeal
By TINA BAY, Staff Writer
The dissolution of a father-son partnership so that the son could expand the family business did not result in the transfer of exclusive business or trademark rights to the son, this district’s Court of Appeal ruled Friday.
Affirming an order by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John Shepard Wiley Jr.,
Div. Eight concluded that rights to the trademark “Zankou Chicken” were validly assigned by one of the restaurant’s founders to her three adult children.
Markrid Iskenderian and her husband Vartkes, both deceased, opened a chicken restaurant decades ago in Beirut, Lebanon called Zankou Chicken. After immigrating to the United States in the 1980s, the Iskenderian family—the couple and their three children, Mardiros, Dzovig, and Haygan Iskenderian—opened the first stateside Zankou Chicken in Hollywood.
Though no written partnership agreement existed, the business filed taxes as a father-son partnership with a 60 percent interest held by the father and 40 percent by son Mardiros Iskendarian.
Markrid Iskenderian, who created Zankou Chicken’s signature garlic sauce, worked in the Hollywood restaurant with her husband and son. The partnership registered the Zankou Chicken trademark with the state in 1984.
In late 1991, a disagreement between parents and son regarding expansion of the business led to the dissolution of the partnership, with father paying son $40,000 for his partnership share. The parents, who did not want to open stores in other locations, continued operating the flagship store while allowing their son to open additional restaurants of his own.
He eventually opened Zankou Chicken restaurants in Glendale, Van Nuys, Anaheim and Pasadena, retaining all the profits from the additional locations while his parents kept the profits from the Hollywood store.
After Vartkes Iskenderian’s death in 1992, Markrid Iskenderian continued operating the Hollywood restaurant, and created a living trust conveying her sole ownership interest in the store to the trustee for the benefit of her two daughters. Though she once amended the trust to include her son as a beneficiary, she ultimately designated the trust only for her daughters’ benefit.
Since he had reaped the benefit of his parents’ fortune and had four stores of his own, she told her son in a letter, she was designating the flagship store for his sisters.
Without her knowledge, her son in 1992 registered the Zankou Chicken service mark in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, declaring in the application that he owned the mark and no other person had the right to use it. The registration was canceled in 2000 after Markrid Iskenderian discovered the action.
In 2002, Markrid Iskenderian created a second trust in which the trustees of the first trust assigned to the 2002 instrument’s trustees “all of her right, title and interest in the restaurant business, the trade name, service mark, or trademark commonly known as ZANKOU CHICKEN.” The trust provided for distribution of the trademark rights to her three children in equal shares, and of the Hollywood restaurant to her daughters.
In January 2003, Mardiros Iskenderian, who had been diagnosed with cancer two years earlier, shot and killed his mother, his sister Dzovig Iskendarian, and himself.
Eight months later, his widow, Rita Iskenderian, filed a petition in probate court asserting that she exclusively owned the Zankou Chicken Mark. She sought an order declaring the mark was not property of the 2002 trust and directing the trustee to execute a quitclaim of the mark to her. Haygan Iskenderian and Dzovig Iskenderian’s surviving sons and successors in interest agreed that she owned the mark, she alleged.
At a bench trial, she testified that after the partnership’s dissolution, her husband told her he “gave away” the Hollywood restaurant to his parents in return for the Zankou Chicken trademark.
Wiley declined to believe her, saying there was “no sensible reason” why parents who devoted their lives to building a business would forfeit all of their rights to the trademark embodying their lifelong work.
The judge found that the 1991 dissolution merely marked a realignment of the family members’ duties and the start of a “generally unified and cooperative family enterprise” that operated for decades until the 2003 tragedy. The Zankou Chicken mark was owned by the family enterprise on the day Markrid Iskenderian was killed, Wiley ruled, and she had validly transferred her interest in the mark to the 2002 trust.
The judge ordered that the trademark rights be equally distributed among Markrid Iskenderian’s three children, effectuating the trust.
Writing for the Court of Appeal, Justice Paul Boland agreed with Wiley:
“[T]he court expressly found, as a matter of fact, that the mark was not transferred to Mardiros when the partnership was dissolved. Therefore, ownership of the mark either remained with the family enterprise (as the trial court described it) or with Vartkes alone (as the partner who retained the mark). In either case, on Vartkes’s death, Markrid succeeded to his rights (and necessarily had community property rights of her own) in the mark, and had the authority to transfer those rights to the trust.”
Boland also rejected Rita Iskenderian’s argument that joint ownership of the mark was unlawful.
“To be sure, the joint ownership of a trademark can raise difficult problems when joint owners refuse to cooperate,” the justice wrote. “However, no evidence indicates Rita and the other family members with interest in the Zankou Chicken mark will be unable to agree on terms for the continuation of the family enterprise, or for a buyout of interests in the enterprise should they decide not to cooperate as they have in the past.”
Presiding Justice Candace Cooper and Justice Madeleine Flier concurred in the opinion.
Peter B. Gelblum, Douglas Bordewieck and Valentine Shalamitski of Mitchell, Silberbert & Knupp represented the plaintiff on appeal. Tulane M. Peterson and Gary W. Morris of Hart, Mieras & Morris represented the defendants.
The case is Iskenderian v. Iskenderian, 06 S.O.S. 5576.
A soured Father-Son Parnership, murder and gyros...For those of you in LA who love chicken with garlic butter (aka garlic-flavored crisco), here's a story about the family behond our beloved Zankou. I drove by the site of the new westside location everyday on my way to school, waiting for it to open. After reading this story, I will never look at my tarna chicken plate the same.
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
Monday, November 20, 2006
Page 1
‘Zankou Chicken’ Trademark Remained With Founders Of Restaurant, Not Their Son—Court of Appeal
By TINA BAY, Staff Writer
The dissolution of a father-son partnership so that the son could expand the family business did not result in the transfer of exclusive business or trademark rights to the son, this district’s Court of Appeal ruled Friday.
Affirming an order by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John Shepard Wiley Jr.,
Div. Eight concluded that rights to the trademark “Zankou Chicken” were validly assigned by one of the restaurant’s founders to her three adult children.
Markrid Iskenderian and her husband Vartkes, both deceased, opened a chicken restaurant decades ago in Beirut, Lebanon called Zankou Chicken. After immigrating to the United States in the 1980s, the Iskenderian family—the couple and their three children, Mardiros, Dzovig, and Haygan Iskenderian—opened the first stateside Zankou Chicken in Hollywood.
Though no written partnership agreement existed, the business filed taxes as a father-son partnership with a 60 percent interest held by the father and 40 percent by son Mardiros Iskendarian.
Markrid Iskenderian, who created Zankou Chicken’s signature garlic sauce, worked in the Hollywood restaurant with her husband and son. The partnership registered the Zankou Chicken trademark with the state in 1984.
In late 1991, a disagreement between parents and son regarding expansion of the business led to the dissolution of the partnership, with father paying son $40,000 for his partnership share. The parents, who did not want to open stores in other locations, continued operating the flagship store while allowing their son to open additional restaurants of his own.
He eventually opened Zankou Chicken restaurants in Glendale, Van Nuys, Anaheim and Pasadena, retaining all the profits from the additional locations while his parents kept the profits from the Hollywood store.
After Vartkes Iskenderian’s death in 1992, Markrid Iskenderian continued operating the Hollywood restaurant, and created a living trust conveying her sole ownership interest in the store to the trustee for the benefit of her two daughters. Though she once amended the trust to include her son as a beneficiary, she ultimately designated the trust only for her daughters’ benefit.
Since he had reaped the benefit of his parents’ fortune and had four stores of his own, she told her son in a letter, she was designating the flagship store for his sisters.
Without her knowledge, her son in 1992 registered the Zankou Chicken service mark in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, declaring in the application that he owned the mark and no other person had the right to use it. The registration was canceled in 2000 after Markrid Iskenderian discovered the action.
In 2002, Markrid Iskenderian created a second trust in which the trustees of the first trust assigned to the 2002 instrument’s trustees “all of her right, title and interest in the restaurant business, the trade name, service mark, or trademark commonly known as ZANKOU CHICKEN.” The trust provided for distribution of the trademark rights to her three children in equal shares, and of the Hollywood restaurant to her daughters.
In January 2003, Mardiros Iskenderian, who had been diagnosed with cancer two years earlier, shot and killed his mother, his sister Dzovig Iskendarian, and himself.
Eight months later, his widow, Rita Iskenderian, filed a petition in probate court asserting that she exclusively owned the Zankou Chicken Mark. She sought an order declaring the mark was not property of the 2002 trust and directing the trustee to execute a quitclaim of the mark to her. Haygan Iskenderian and Dzovig Iskenderian’s surviving sons and successors in interest agreed that she owned the mark, she alleged.
At a bench trial, she testified that after the partnership’s dissolution, her husband told her he “gave away” the Hollywood restaurant to his parents in return for the Zankou Chicken trademark.
Wiley declined to believe her, saying there was “no sensible reason” why parents who devoted their lives to building a business would forfeit all of their rights to the trademark embodying their lifelong work.
The judge found that the 1991 dissolution merely marked a realignment of the family members’ duties and the start of a “generally unified and cooperative family enterprise” that operated for decades until the 2003 tragedy. The Zankou Chicken mark was owned by the family enterprise on the day Markrid Iskenderian was killed, Wiley ruled, and she had validly transferred her interest in the mark to the 2002 trust.
The judge ordered that the trademark rights be equally distributed among Markrid Iskenderian’s three children, effectuating the trust.
Writing for the Court of Appeal, Justice Paul Boland agreed with Wiley:
“[T]he court expressly found, as a matter of fact, that the mark was not transferred to Mardiros when the partnership was dissolved. Therefore, ownership of the mark either remained with the family enterprise (as the trial court described it) or with Vartkes alone (as the partner who retained the mark). In either case, on Vartkes’s death, Markrid succeeded to his rights (and necessarily had community property rights of her own) in the mark, and had the authority to transfer those rights to the trust.”
Boland also rejected Rita Iskenderian’s argument that joint ownership of the mark was unlawful.
“To be sure, the joint ownership of a trademark can raise difficult problems when joint owners refuse to cooperate,” the justice wrote. “However, no evidence indicates Rita and the other family members with interest in the Zankou Chicken mark will be unable to agree on terms for the continuation of the family enterprise, or for a buyout of interests in the enterprise should they decide not to cooperate as they have in the past.”
Presiding Justice Candace Cooper and Justice Madeleine Flier concurred in the opinion.
Peter B. Gelblum, Douglas Bordewieck and Valentine Shalamitski of Mitchell, Silberbert & Knupp represented the plaintiff on appeal. Tulane M. Peterson and Gary W. Morris of Hart, Mieras & Morris represented the defendants.
The case is Iskenderian v. Iskenderian, 06 S.O.S. 5576.
11/14/2006
awkward dinner
On wednesday I attended a swanky dinner for a certain LA-based non-profit that begins with APA and ends with LC at the Beverly Hilton. I was invited because my non-profit was given a grant by an organization who bought a table at the dinner.
Ack, and it was awkward...
6:20pm -- my attempt at arriving post-reception/silent auction was foiled by good traffic. I am pissed that I have to pay $10 to self-park my car.
6:40pm -- Spend 20 minutes wandering around the crowd looking for a familiar asian face. No such luck, even though I'm at a freakin' asian event. I guess I don't know enough rich Asian lawyers in LA. After wandering around I find a marble pilar to stand behind and call minsoo and my sister to pass the time and avoid the awkward standing alone and staring at strangers pose. I realize cell phones were made not just for convenience but also to avoid socially awkward situations.
6:55 -- I decide to go to my assigned table. Find it empty so I go to the bar to buy an $8.75 glass of wine to pass the time. I thought I'd get a free dinner, but I've already spent almost $20 just waiting to eat.
6:57 -- Run into the husband of an NU alum that I know from church. Yes! A familiar face. The guy isn't a lawyer and doesn't know anyone either. We spend a few minutes exchanging "I didn't know this event was going to be like this" and then go to our respective tables.
7:00pm -- Find people at my table; I sit with a nice woman who's in charge of the grants. She seems to know everyone and everyone else at the table knows other people. I'm the only one who doesn't know a soul. I stare intently at my program to avoid the awkwardness of knowing zero people.
7:15 -- The program starts and the M.C. turns out to be cute local sportscaster that I've had a crush on since high school. Maybe this event isn't so bad. Too bad the room is huge and I'm sitting in the nose bleed table, only able to see the guy from the large screens. I also spot another cute Asian news reporter. Watch cheesy but compelling videos about the non-profit's work. Is it weird to have a crush on an organization?
8:20pm -- The woman at my table introduces me to some Asian Judges. They ask me if I'm in the legal profession. The conversation ends there. Almost as awkward as talking to no one.
8:55pm -- Hells yes. People are leaving so I take my chance and book it out of there before dessert and more awkward conversation.
*SIGH* I really thought it'd be an awesome event. I still have a crush on the organization.
On wednesday I attended a swanky dinner for a certain LA-based non-profit that begins with APA and ends with LC at the Beverly Hilton. I was invited because my non-profit was given a grant by an organization who bought a table at the dinner.
Ack, and it was awkward...
6:20pm -- my attempt at arriving post-reception/silent auction was foiled by good traffic. I am pissed that I have to pay $10 to self-park my car.
6:40pm -- Spend 20 minutes wandering around the crowd looking for a familiar asian face. No such luck, even though I'm at a freakin' asian event. I guess I don't know enough rich Asian lawyers in LA. After wandering around I find a marble pilar to stand behind and call minsoo and my sister to pass the time and avoid the awkward standing alone and staring at strangers pose. I realize cell phones were made not just for convenience but also to avoid socially awkward situations.
6:55 -- I decide to go to my assigned table. Find it empty so I go to the bar to buy an $8.75 glass of wine to pass the time. I thought I'd get a free dinner, but I've already spent almost $20 just waiting to eat.
6:57 -- Run into the husband of an NU alum that I know from church. Yes! A familiar face. The guy isn't a lawyer and doesn't know anyone either. We spend a few minutes exchanging "I didn't know this event was going to be like this" and then go to our respective tables.
7:00pm -- Find people at my table; I sit with a nice woman who's in charge of the grants. She seems to know everyone and everyone else at the table knows other people. I'm the only one who doesn't know a soul. I stare intently at my program to avoid the awkwardness of knowing zero people.
7:15 -- The program starts and the M.C. turns out to be cute local sportscaster that I've had a crush on since high school. Maybe this event isn't so bad. Too bad the room is huge and I'm sitting in the nose bleed table, only able to see the guy from the large screens. I also spot another cute Asian news reporter. Watch cheesy but compelling videos about the non-profit's work. Is it weird to have a crush on an organization?
8:20pm -- The woman at my table introduces me to some Asian Judges. They ask me if I'm in the legal profession. The conversation ends there. Almost as awkward as talking to no one.
8:55pm -- Hells yes. People are leaving so I take my chance and book it out of there before dessert and more awkward conversation.
*SIGH* I really thought it'd be an awesome event. I still have a crush on the organization.
11/13/2006
a silent fraternity
Angela's daughter came to work today to begin her internship with us. I really enjoyed catching up with her -- we talked about a bunch of random stuff -- her classes, our separate H&M trips, her mom's fashion, their old apartment, how we both hate abercrombie but for very different reasons... It was really nice to hang out with her. After she left, I started to feel really sad. It's been less than a month since A's passed away and even though work is getting back to normal and things are returning back to normal, I still feel that deep sense of loss constantly.
I was driving home today and there was a story on All Things Considered on NPR about a writer and her desire to document her father's final days. It was a beautiful story and my eyes were watering as I listened to her. During the story she said something that was so profound and applied so well to the way I was feeling today after seeing my friend's daughter.
"Grief scares people and my pain was so raw I think it was difficult for some of my friends to tolerate. I connected best to others who were wounded, many of them strangers. Serious loss brings you into one of the world's silent fraternities."
Angela's daughter came to work today to begin her internship with us. I really enjoyed catching up with her -- we talked about a bunch of random stuff -- her classes, our separate H&M trips, her mom's fashion, their old apartment, how we both hate abercrombie but for very different reasons... It was really nice to hang out with her. After she left, I started to feel really sad. It's been less than a month since A's passed away and even though work is getting back to normal and things are returning back to normal, I still feel that deep sense of loss constantly.
I was driving home today and there was a story on All Things Considered on NPR about a writer and her desire to document her father's final days. It was a beautiful story and my eyes were watering as I listened to her. During the story she said something that was so profound and applied so well to the way I was feeling today after seeing my friend's daughter.
"Grief scares people and my pain was so raw I think it was difficult for some of my friends to tolerate. I connected best to others who were wounded, many of them strangers. Serious loss brings you into one of the world's silent fraternities."
11/07/2006
Today is election day.
Don't know where to vote?
Here you go...
http://www.smartvoter.org/
Don't know what issues you want to vote for?
www.aaa-fund.org has some good info... just a suggestion. Take it or leave it.
Not voting is for suckas. Please get your lazy ass out there and vote for goodness sake. I could go on but I won't.
I'm working helping to get out the vote today until the polls close at 8pm. VOTE please! There, now I'm done.
Don't know where to vote?
Here you go...
http://www.smartvoter.org/
Don't know what issues you want to vote for?
www.aaa-fund.org has some good info... just a suggestion. Take it or leave it.
Not voting is for suckas. Please get your lazy ass out there and vote for goodness sake. I could go on but I won't.
I'm working helping to get out the vote today until the polls close at 8pm. VOTE please! There, now I'm done.
11/06/2006
some cheering up
October flew by in a whirlwind of confusion and sadness. I'm still getting my bearings and still trying to deal with life in general. Fortunately, I was able to accompany minsoo to Hawaii for a short, much-needed weekend getaway. We went to Honolulu for the film festival and I got to see my relatives, including my cute little new second cousin. While I don't think the vacation was long enough, nor thorough enough to really help me begin to heal, there were some cool higlights. Here are some pics:
Pretty beaches...
Shrimp Truck on the side of the road... So yummy.
Butter and Garlic shrimp -- so good, the stray cats sat under Minsoo's legs just waiting for the scraps.
My cousin's baby, Kyle (a girl)... she's so cute, with her big head and fuzzy hair!
She was highly amused by me and my funny faces.
October flew by in a whirlwind of confusion and sadness. I'm still getting my bearings and still trying to deal with life in general. Fortunately, I was able to accompany minsoo to Hawaii for a short, much-needed weekend getaway. We went to Honolulu for the film festival and I got to see my relatives, including my cute little new second cousin. While I don't think the vacation was long enough, nor thorough enough to really help me begin to heal, there were some cool higlights. Here are some pics:
Pretty beaches...
Shrimp Truck on the side of the road... So yummy.
Butter and Garlic shrimp -- so good, the stray cats sat under Minsoo's legs just waiting for the scraps.
My cousin's baby, Kyle (a girl)... she's so cute, with her big head and fuzzy hair!
She was highly amused by me and my funny faces.
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