Restaurant chain Hog's Breath Cafe has been accused of bully boy tactics by serving legals to a Central Coast cafe it claims is infringing its trademark.
Hog's Breath Cafe is taking small business Hoggy's to court over naming rights. The trademark office is currently considering a claim by Hog's Breath Cafe that the Hoggy's Cafe in Gosford infringes its trademark by using a similar name and pig image in its logo.
It echoes the Wambie Whopper vs Hungry Jacks case earlier this year which saw the fast food giant back down after pressure from the public.
Hoggy's Cafe, a small Central Coast takeaway business is having to take its signs down during the legal stoush because it can't afford the legal costs.
Sam and Sarah Hogg, who run the takeaway have turned to social media. The business has nearly 16,000 signatures on a Change.org petition and is asking for help to fund the legal fees should it face a court battle. But the small chain is a way off the $10,000 target – with only $360 donated so far.
The small chain claims that it wasn't until a day after it appeared on Current Affair that The Hog's Breath Cafe applied for the trademark of Hoggy's.
They say it's “another case of big business bullying the small business owner”.
It will be interesting to see whether Hog's Breath's claim gains any traction, given that the images used and names are distinctly different.
Customers are joining a boycott of the chain and voicing their “disgust” and anger at how Hog's Breath is treating the smaller business on the chain’s Twitter and Facebook pages. Negative comments area also appearing on the restaurant chain’s webpage where it has a section that aggregates social media.
Talking to the Daily Telegraph, Hog’s Breath Cafe general manager Ross Worth defended the chain's actions, saying that its franchisees are local businesses that pay large suns to use the brand name. The company also took out a full page ad in local appear the Express Advocate explaining its position.
Worth had not responded to AdNews at the time of writing.
Hoggy's will be hoping for the same outcome that Wambie Whoppers managed after a concerted social media campaign supported by change.org.
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