As you may recall, Round 1 of IHOP v. IHOP began last year, when International House of Pancakes sued International House of Prayer for trademark dilution. That case was filed in federal court in Los Angeles, but was dismissed in December, reportedly so the parties could try mediation, although you don't need to dismiss a lawsuit to do that. If they did mediate, it didn't work, because the Kansas City Star reports that IHOP (the pancakery) has sued IHOP (the church) again, this time in federal court in Kansas City.

According to the complaint, "[s]everal persons have either been confused by House of Prayer's use of 'IHOP' or felt the need to clarify whether the 'IHOP' reference was to House of Prayer Kansas City or plaintiffs." That seems awfully unlikely, but then several persons have at least claimed to have been confused by the product names "Crunch Berries" and/or "Froot Loops," so I guess IHOP-related confusion can't be ruled out.

If you do get confused, remember that the International House of Prayer (www.ihop.org) is the one that teaches about the End Times and sells copies of 23 Minutes in Hell, a CD on which a gentleman relates the time he spent 23 minutes in Hell and answers your questions about the afterlife (hint: Hell is unpleasant); and the International House of Pancakes (www.ihop.com) sells pancakes.