I am looking at the feasibility of re-opening "Mother's Pizzeria or
Mother's Pizza".

Mother's Pizza was a franchise that was originally based out of
Ontario, Canada.  I need to find as much information as I can on the
current status of the legal name, the franchise, the ownership,
recipes, etc.

I believe they became extinct in the 80's.  I'm not sure what happened
but I know that Little Ceasars purchased most of the locations at that
time.

Hi there! I don't have time to fully research the question now, but
maybe I can help out anyone in need of the information it by providing
some background.

The place in Canada seems to be defunct. I found a couple of comments
on various mesage boards about a Mother's Pizza in Windsor, Ontario,
that was a nice place and is now gone.

The name seems popular though. If you search for "Mother's Pizza" on
Google you will find a drove of places of that name all throughout the
U.S.

Here's a place of that name located in Mesa, Arizona. The document is
a city council record of a wine transfer license.

Person transfer Beer and Wine Bar License for Mother's Pizza, 1352 E.
Broadway Road. This transfer is from Andrew E. Wrenn, Owner, Mother's
Pizza to Mary D. Denzer, Owner, Mother's Pizza.

*I was unable, however, to find a phone number in the applicable
yellow pages.

http://www.ci.mesa.az.us/citymgt/c121997/c1208-04.htm


Here's one in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin

Mother's Pizza  502 Bay St  715-726-2026  
http://www.freeparkinghere.com/chipfalls/dining.asp?category=diningnightlife&city=ChippewaFalls

Here's a mention of such an establishment in Alberta, Canada in a
resume.
Mother's Pizza/Tom's House of Pizza: 
August 1986 to October 1987
Calgary, Alberta 
Responsibilities:
   -Delivered pizza on a full time basis.
http://www.thezuluman.com/resume.html

A Business Finder app online produces 38 (!) matches for the name: 

http://www.knowx.com/infoam.exe?form=ubf%2Fsummary.htm&name=Mother%27s+Pizza&state=ALL

Conclusion? A lot of people use Mother's Pizza and many are still in
business, suggesting no successful lawsuit or cease and desist letter.

It appears to be just a catchy and popular name for a neighborhood
parlor. In addition, it may be encouraging that there is a clause in
the applicable copyright law stating that if many businesses use a
name without being stopped by its claimant there is no copyright by
law (the doctrine of estoppel).*

Thus, it appears there is no WORKING copyright restricting you from
opening such a business. I would call one or two of these businesses
though to check whether they have been bothered.

* Nothing in this post is legal advice, just a suggestion which you
should talk over with a lawyer before making decisions.

Thanks for the great question.
answerben

I spent a lot of time at Mother's as a kid. We always seemed to end up
there after hockey games. :)

Unfortunately, I haven't found any legal information for you but I
happen to have a couple of those soda-fountain flare glasses that they
used to give to people. On the glass, it says "Mother's and Mother's
Pizza Parlour are registered trademarks of Mother's Restaurants Inc."
And the full name of the restaurant was "Mother's Pizza Parlour &
Spaghetti House". You may have already known both of those things but
I thought I'd mention them anyway.

Good luck!

Searching the Canadian Trademarks database
(http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/cgi-bin/sc_consu/trade-marks/search_e.pl)
for "mother's pizza" turned up some leads you might want to follow.

Also a search of Canada411.com turned up this which apparently is a
pizza place.
MOTHERS
Phone: (403)295-8760
8120 Beddington Blvd Nw N, Calgary, AB T3K 2A8 
(The link that suggested it is a pizza place is
http://www.sowrey.org/branches/20000417.shtml)

Also, have you tried calling Little Caesar's? They might tell you if
you would be infringing on something they have the rights to.

The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office shows a registration for Mother's
Pizza Parlour, based in Burlington, Ontario.  There are contacts
listed for both the company and the trademark attorney, either of
which should still be valid.

http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=73441869