London restaurant wins court battle against pet firm
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Owners of an exclusive Knightsbridge restaurant called Zuma have won a High Court battle against a businesswoman who used the same name for her dog food business.
Zuma has been a hot favourite with celebrity diners since 2002 and is rated by many as London's finest Japanese eatery.
Its owners, Azumi Limited, went to the High Court after entrepreneur Zoe Vanderbilt set up Zuma's Choice Pet Products Ltd in 2014.
Miss Vanderbilt said she had named her company after her beloved pet, Zuma, a Japanese Akita/German Shepherd cross.
But the restaurant's chef and co-founder, Rainer Becker, was left fuming by the association with dog food.
Judge Melissa Clarke has ordered Ms Vanderbilt to stop breaching the restaurant's trade marks. She will not have to change the name of her company but, other than that, cannot use the word Zuma to sell pet food anywhere in Europe.
Since opening, Zuma has consistently ranked among London's best restaurants and its turnover in 2015 was £14million. By contrast the turnover of Kingston upon Thames-based Zuma's Choice Pet Products remained at zero, the court was told.
During a meeting with Mr Becker in May 2015 Ms Vanderbilt offered to sell him the business and internet domain name for £500,000.
Ms Vanderbilt said the value of her brand “could be higher than that, given that the pet food market in the UK is, she believes, worth £2 billion per year.”
Simon Malynicz QC, for Azumi Ltd, savaged Ms Vanderbilt over her company's website, dineinwithzuma.com.
“One does not normally refer to dogs dining,” the barrister said, “dogs eat, they do not dine.”
The court heard Ms Vanderbilt's dog foods bear the names of 'slow braised pork', 'cottage pie with cheesy mash' and 'chicken and lentils'.
The judge found that Azumi's Ltd's bid to make Ms Vanderbilt change the name of her company had been unjustified.
But, issuing an injunction against her, she found her use of dineinwithzuma.com, ZUMA and DINE IN WITH ZUMA all infringed the restaurant's trade marks.
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