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A Texas state court jury ruled Monday that an Austin whiskey company's use of the "Landry" name did not cause a likelihood of confusion with a conglomerate of hospitality brands owned by Houston billionaire Tilman Fertitta.

The jury delivered its verdict around 12:30 p.m. after deliberating for more than five hours, starting on Friday evening. Judge Beau A. Miller of Harris County District Court noted that the jury had sent him three questions early on Monday during the process.

The decision cleared defendant Zach Landry and his companies, Landry Distilling Inc. and Landry Distillery LLC, of a Texas common law trademark infringement suit filed by Fertitta’s Landry LLC.

The jury ruled that the Landry's LLC mark was not famous in Texas before Zach Landry launched his business, though it did find the mark was famous in the Houston area. Despite this, the jury concluded that Zach Landry’s use of the name did not create a risk of diluting Landry’s LLC’s mark.

The verdict form did not require the jury to consider Zach Landry's intent when selecting the name for his company.

The lawsuit was filed in March 2023 by Fertitta’s Landry's LLC, alleging that the whiskey company had infringed on the Landry name despite receiving a cease-and-desist letter and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s 2022 denials of three trademark applications from Landry Distilling.

A significant portion of the trial was devoted to the testimony of Zach Landry, who told the jury that he started his business with a good faith belief that the name "Landry" was available for use in the whiskey industry. He said that at the time, he only knew of the name "Landry" in connection with the restaurant chain Landry's Seafood House.

Fertitta’s counsel, however, pointed the jury to internal documents from Landry Distilling, which detailed plans for a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for its defense in the trademark case. The documents referred to Landry Distilling as a “dark horse” and described the company as a “David” up against a “Goliath.”

Zach Landry, however, testified that the campaign never launched and that the documents presented to the jury were never made public. His attorney, Joseph R. Knight of Ewell Brown Blanke & Knight LLP, argued during closing statements that the plaintiff’s "nasty" tactics—such as calling Zach Landry "Pinocchio" and disparaging his business as a “bathtub operation”—were a sign that the large corporation lacked the legal and factual basis for its claims.

The plaintiff is represented by John Zavitsanos, Harrison Scheer, and Angela M. Peterson of Ahmad Zavitsanos & Mensing, along with Jason P. Blair of Smith Gambrell & Russell LLP. The distillery defendants are represented by Joseph R. Knight of Ewell Brown Blanke & Knight LLP and Steven J. Knight of Chamberlain Hrdlicka White Williams & Aughtry PC.

The case is Landry's LLP et al. v. Landry's Distilling Inc. et al., case number 202320455, in the 190th District Court of Harris County, Texas.