The disgruntled owner of Dublin's Little Pig restaurant brand is to ask a court to block a competitor using the similar brand, Little Pyg, which he claimed is confusing members of the public causing Little Pig significant loss of customers and money.
Barrister Fred Gilligan told Judge John O’Connor in the Circuit Civil Court that Little Pig owner Michael Martin was more than a "bit bored" with the antics of Little Pyg which is owned by Paul McGlade and wants an end to it.
Judge O’Connor heard that Mr Martin had been monitoring the situation and found Little Pig was losing out to Little Pyg.
"Customers attended Little Pyg honestly believing they were in Little Pig and did not show up for reservations in Little Pig," Mr Gilligan read from Mr Martin’s sworn statement.
Mr Gilligan said Mr Martin was able to identify 35 separate incidences of confusion by customers attending Little Pyg who should have been in Little Pig.
Judge O’Connor granted Little Pig leave to serve Little Pyg with short notice of legal proceedings seeking injunctions compelling Little Pyg to stop trading as Little Pyg and for Little Pyg to remove all signage of Little Pyg and all images of Little Pyg and all social media content of Little Pyg.
Mr Gilligan told the court that his client Little Pig would also be seeking to restrain use of the name Little Pyg which, he said, was so similar to Little Pig as to infringe Little Pig’s registered trademark.
Counsel, who appeared with MDM Solicitors, Lavitt’s Quay, Cork, for Mr Martin, managing director of Café Presse trading as Little Pig, said the company was formed in 2006 and five years later had become so successful operating as The Blind Pig Speakeasy that Little Pig was launched.
Then in November 2019 Mr McGlade, of Pygmalion Public House, trading as Little Pyg, opened Little Pyg close to Little Pig in the Powerscourt Centre, Dublin 2.
Little Pyg was causing confusion with Little Pig to such an extent that a number of Christmas parties had attended Little Pyg rather than Little Pig and Little Pig complained to Little Pyg which undertook to keep an eye on the situation and redirect Little Pyg attendees who really should have gone to Little Pig to go to Little Pig.
Little Pig, in return, agreed to redirect any Little Pyg customers, who mistakenly turned up at Little Pig, to Little Pyg.
Mr Martin again monitored the situation and found Little Pig was losing customers to Little Pyg. In November 2021 Little Pyg changed its logo to resemble the Little Pig logo and then opened another restaurant called Little Pyg Terrace again using a Little Pyg logo similar to the Little Pig logo.
Menus were, Mr Martin stated, not only similar but Little Pyg Terrace started using identical chairs exclusive to chairs found in Little Pig.
Mr Gilligan said that in October last Mr Martin contacted Mr McGlade who stated he had already trademarked the name Little Pyg.
He said it had now become clear that a significant number of Little Pig customers had been mistakenly going to Little Pyg instead of Little Pig.
Mr Martin said he believed Little Pyg and Little Pyg Terrace had been established in an effort to pass off its products and offering as being either associated with or being the same as Little Pigs.
"I continue to receive numerous calls each week of customers who are in Little Pyg who actually intended to be in Little Pig," Mr Martin said.
"It is clear that Pygmalion Public House trading as Little Pyg is using a name and logo so similar to Little Pig as to cause confusion both online and in person at the point of sale and are breaching the Trades Mark Act and guilty of the tort of passing off."
Judge O’Connor granted leave for short notice in an application that was taken in the absence of Pygmalion Public House representatives.
