Shop owner taking cheek to the Maxx
IF the name of Mark Brooks’ seaside fashion store strikes you as familiar, then you’re not alone.
After opening up his shop PK Max this Easter, the 44-year-old has found himself the subject of legal threats – from high street giant TK Maxx.
He said lawyers for the chain wrote to him on Saturday accusing him of an ‘infringement of TK Maxx trade marks’ and demanding he drop the title. Mr Brooks said the name for the Blackpool store – which he opened in a bid to help rejuvenate an area of empty shops – came from merging his nickname ‘Max’ and the initials of his partner Paul Kelly.
However, he admitted they ‘knew the name was a bit tongue in cheek’, while the signage outside his store bears an uncanny resemblance to TK Maxx’s own logo. ‘It is genuinely a mix of both our names but was also a play on the TK Maxx name, we were just having a bit of fun,’ he said.
On getting the letter, he said: ‘My heart did go a bit because you really don’t want to go around upsetting big companies ... of course we’re going to change the name.’ TK Maxx last night declined to comment.