A UK shopkeeper who opened a store ‘Singh’sbury Local’, faces a backlash from national supermarket giant Sainsbury’s.
Owner Mandeep Singh Chatha opened the small store in Wolverhampton in December last year, after registering the business with Companies House in November, under the name ‘Singhsbury Local Off License Ltd’.
Mr Chatha claims the name derives from his address, Bushbury Road, and his his name, Singh, and that any relation to the famous supermarket is purely coincidental.
The sign on the front of Chatha’s store has a similar orange lettering, and uses a similar typeface to that used by Sainsbury’s.
Speaking to a UK outlet Mr Chatha said: “I have heard nothing from a supermarket which has a similar name, so I see no problem with it. It’s a different logo, a different colour, a different company. I don’t want any controversy from [Sainsbury’s]. The nearest Sainsbury’s is a couple of miles away, so it’s not exactly close and we are certainly not competition.”
John Coldham, an IP partner at multinational law firm Gowling WLG, argued that “it is clear that [Chatha] had Sainsbury's in mind when he created his shop’s sign, and wanted his customers to do so too. If he really did not, it is naive of any business not to have a commercial awareness where IP protection rights and branding are concerned and he should perhaps have done some checks.
“Whilst some consumers would see the shop and see Mr Chatha’s playful mimicry and perhaps no harm is done, others would see the shop and dash in thinking it was Sainsbury’s – at least initially. This is not giving consumers a free choice.”
Superstore Sainsbury’s previously threatened legal action against other businesses who have tried similar tactics. One such legal action took place in June 2017, against a north of England shopkeeper who opened a store called ‘Singhsbury’s’.
After being threatened with leagal action the owner changed the name to ‘Morrisinghs’, which supermarket chain Morrisons hasn’t objected to.
