Cafe owners toss around new name

The owners of a Wellington cafe in search of a new name are working to narrow down ideas from the public after Coca-Cola warned them over a trademark infringement.

Innocent Foods cafe owners Claire Rientjes, 21, and partner Egemen Yeter, 25, were left dumbfounded when the global beverage giant, which owns the trademark for Britain smoothie and juice brand Innocent, gave the pair until November 16 to come up with a new name.

Their Willis St cafe has been producing cold-pressed juice under the brand Innocent Foods since it opened four months ago. They have now had to strip the branding from its bottles.

On Tuesday, Rientjes and Yeter sought the public’s ideas on names for the cafe before they reached their looming deadline.

Rientjes said they hadn’t had a chance to go through all the name options yet as they had been ‘‘flat out’’ yesterday.

Suggestions ranged from ‘‘nononsense foods’’ to ‘‘not-guilty foods’’.

Some people said the cafe owners should have seen the infringement coming, while others said Rientjes and Yeter should stand up to Coca-Cola.

Questions were raised over why it mattered what the cafe was called if Coca-Cola did not use the brand in New Zealand.

However, the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ) says a business has the right to protect itself against infringement under the Trade Marks Act.

James and Wells intellectual property partner Ceri Wells said New Zealand had an ‘‘unsophisticated and naive attitude towards intellectual property rights’’.

He said the dispute between the Coca-Cola-owned company and the small Wellington eatery proved Kiwis’ ‘‘quaint attitude to intellectual property (IP) rights’’.

‘‘Fresh Trading Limited (which Coca Cola now owns), developed the Innocent trademark and related business of supplying a wide variety of foodstuffs and beverages ... it wants to protect and control the use of its brand so that when it is ready, it can market Innocent food products in New Zealand.’’