Two pizza joints in Surrey are having it out in court over doing business under a similar name in the same neighbourhood.
The plaintiff, Kwantlen Pizza Ltd., doing business as Kwantlen Pizza Sweets and Snacks, asked Justice Matthew Kirchner to prohibit defendant Avtar Singh Maghera from engaging in any business using “Kwantlen Pizza” in its trade name within four kilometres of Kwantlen Pizza’s original location.
The plaintiff sought an interlocutory injunction, pending a trial. The application, heard in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, relates to a restaurant that calls itself Kwantlen Pizza & Curry House, which opened this past November at 12414 82 Ave. in Newton, roughly 2.5 kilometres away.
Kwantlen Pizza Ltd., owned by Jasvir Singh Garcha, operates under the trade name Kwantlen Pizza Sweets & Snacks.
Kwantlen Pizza, at 12578 72 Ave., was jointly owned for 10 years by Maghera and Garcha while at the same time establishing Pure Indian Sweets & Snacks out of the same location.
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Kirchner noted in his reasons for judgment that the men severed their business partnership in 2020.
“Mr. Garcha learned of this new restaurant from customers who called to congratulate him on the new location, thinking it was his,” the judge said.
“The impugned location has the same colour signage as the original Kwantlen Pizza and appears to use the same branding style.”
Garcha filed his notice of civil claim in November, seeking a permanent injunction. In the meantime, on that same day he also applied for the temporary injunction, which the judge granted.
“I accept that Kwantlen Pizza will suffer irreparable harm if the injunction is not granted,” Kirchner reasoned. “It will take months and probably a couple of years before this matter will come to trial. The evidence is compelling that Kwantlen Pizza’s existing customer base is and will be confused by the fact of a second location using the ‘Kwantlen Pizza’ name and branding opening in the same neighbourhood.
“The fact that both locations, showing the exact same logo, appear on a Skip the Dishes and other food delivery apps in the same neighbourhood show how easily a customer may be misled into believing that the new location is an extension of the original location.”
The defendants are listed in the court document as 1253923 BC Ltd., Pure Indian Sweet & Snacks Ltd., Kwantlen Pizza & Curry House and Avtar Singh Maghera.
Alliance Lawyers, the legal counsel for Maghera and Pure Indian Sweet and Snacks Ltd., want to make it clear Kwantlen Pizza & Curry House, at 12414 82 Ave., is still open for business and while the interlocutory injunction restricts Maghera from being involved in its operation no restriction has been imposed that prevents that business from continuing its normal operations.
tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com
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