Judge rules in favor of Hawaii's Highway Inn in copyright dispute with California architecture firm

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PBN File

The Six Eighty Ala Moana building in Honolulu in this file photo. Highway Inn, which is located on the ground floor of this building, won a judgement in its case with a California architecture firm.

Duane Shimogawa

Reporter- Pacific Business News

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Highway Inn has scored a victory in a federal lawsuit involving a California architecture firm that claimed that the Hawaii restaurant in the Honolulu neighborhood of Kakaako used its designs without paying for them.

"We have come full circle from where we were 18 months ago, before [Frost-Tsuji Architects] began its sortie through the local government authorities and the federal courts, which in our opinion, was retaliation to damage Highway Inn and several other local Hawaii companies who worked to complete the construction of our Kakaako restaurant," Monica Toguchi, owner of Highway Inn, told PBN in an email Wednesday. "We have tried several times to settle this simple contract termination for [Frost Tsuji's] non-performance so we can focus on providing our customers with award-winning Hawaiian food and service, and building a thriving kamaaina company. We hope common sense prevails."

Highway Inn had hired Frost-Tsuji in 2012 to design its new restaurant located on the ground floor of Kamehameha Schools' remodeled Six Eighty Ala Moana residential apartment complex at 680 Ala Moana Blvd.

The architecture firm filed a lawsuit against Highway Inn in U.S. District Court in Honolulu in October 2013, alleging breach of contract.

Highway Inn said that it ended its agreement with Frost-Tsuji Architects when the firm refused to work within budget, and that it was acting within its rights. Chief U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway said in a judgment filed earlier this year that "Highway Inn had a license to use Frost-Tsuji's architectural plans after the termination agreement."

On Friday, Mollway ruled in favor of Highway Inn in a copyright claim brought by Frost-Tsuji. Mollway said that Frost-Tsuji created designs that Highway Inn paid for and that it cannot now claim that the designs that were used violated its copyrights.

Duane Shimogawa covers energy, real estate and economic development for Pacific Business News.