A restaurant in Chilliwack is being forced to change its name after a major restaurant chain threatened it with legal action.
Kerry Krahn, owner of the Wellington Social House, says in mid-November he was served with a letter telling him to change the name of his establishment.
The Browns Restaurant Group, which has 60 Browns Socialhouse locations across Canada, has trademarked the terms “socialhouse” and “social house.”
“They said that they had trademarked the name and they have exclusive rights to use ‘social house,'” Krahn said.
“I was really surprised to hear you could trademark such a common two words as ‘social’ and ‘house.’
“At first, we didn’t really think that it was something that they could do,” Krahn said.
In an emailed statement, the Browns Restaurant Group said:
“Browns Socialhouse Ltd. is a franchisor and the registered owner of a number of Canadian trademarks and we actively protect these marks for the benefit of our brand and our franchisees, who are independent business people and licensed users of the marks.”
Krahn says he doesn’t see how his pub could be mistaken for a Browns Socialhouse.
“As a little guy, we’re not trying to be Browns, we’re not trying to be like Browns and I don’t see that there would be any confusion between customers thinking, ‘Oh, it says ‘social house’ therefore Browns must be involved.'”
Krahn says it will cost thousands of dollars to change the name, everything from menus to business cards to the building itself, but he’d rather spend money on a name change than a legal fight.
Krahn has launched a contest asking patrons for their idea for a new name.
The winner gets dinner and a night out at the Wellington — or whatever it ends up being called.
— With files from Jill Bennett
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