Hands off our dough, family of secret recipe says

The Tarantini Panzarotti is usually filled with hot cheese and, depending on your preference, sausage or mushrooms.

A dollop of history also is packed into its crispy, pocket-shaped shell, and the South Jersey family that created the dish says that a competitor is using its reputation to take a bite out of its business.

The Tarantinis have filed a trademark-infringement lawsuit against Angel Distributors, also of South Jersey, claiming that their former business partner has created a Panzarotti knockoff called the Pazotti.

"We are fully committed to protecting our client's right and interest in a product that's been dear to the hearts of South Jersey for about 50 years now," said Alan Milstein, an attorney for the Tarantinis.

According to a complaint filed in Superior Court in Camden County - now scheduled to be heard in U.S. District Court in Camden - the Tarantinis signed a distribution deal with Angel Distributors in 2003 to market and sell the product in four counties in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

That deal included provisions to guard trade secrets "that were developed, closely guarded, and passed down from one generation of the Tarantini family to the next," the complaint says.

Attorneys for the Tarantinis will ask a judge this month for a preliminary injunction to forbid Angel Distributors from selling their Pazotti.

The Pazotti is rounder than the Panzarotti, but the complaint alleges that it bears too close a resemblance to the original Tarantini product.

"The defendants cleverly attempted to confuse the public into believing that the imitation 'Pazotti' is affiliated with the Panzarotti® Products and mark by brazenly removing a mere 3 letters from the middle of the Panzarotti® trademark," the complaint alleges.

According to the Tarantinis' Web site, www.panzarotti.net, the recipe was passed down to Pauline Tarantini when she was just 7 years old by her mother in Brindisi, Italy.

Pauline Tarantini, a mother of 10, brought the recipe with her to America - specifically, to Camden.

During a "financial crisis" in 1960, Pauline began frying Panzarottis by hand at home, and her husband, Leopold, would sell them at gas stations for a quarter.

The word-of-mouth spread quickly, and the Tarantini family received a trademark in 1963. Soon they were selling their deep-fried merchandise at their own establishments in Camden County and in pizza shops around South Jersey and Philadelphia.

The Tarantinis, now based in Cherry Hill, wanted Angel Distributors to spread the word even farther, but according to the complaint, the deal went sour.

The Tarantinis terminated the agreement in March.

John O'Malley, an attorney for Angel Distributors, said the suit was baseless.

"We don't think there's any validity to the claim," he said. "It boils down to a business dispute."

The Tarantini family did not return a phone call seeking comment.