'Spicy Greens?' Them's fightin' words in Prince George

There ain't room enough in Prince George for two sets of 'Spicy Greens'.

High noon for a pair of chili-slinging siblings in the northern B.C. city has ended with one of the two men being ordered to change the name of an upstart restaurant that bore more than just a passing resemblance to his brother's business.

"I find there is a significant risk of confusion in this case as a result of the defendant's use of the words 'Spicy Greens,'" wrote Justice Jennifer Duncan.

"Those words, used in the name of the plaintiff's restaurants and on its advertising, are unique. They are not generic restaurant descriptors, like 'pizza' or 'Chinese food, as the defendant asserts."

Et tu, Jeyakumar?

The tale that turned 'Spicy Greens' into fightin' words begins in 2010 when Jeyakaran Singarasa and his wife bought the Spicy Greens Restaurant from his aunt. 

They now own three locations in total — but shut the original eatery in 2012. They kept the phone number from that location until March 2015 though — and this becomes important later in our story.

Singarasa hired his brother, Jeyakumar, to work at one of the restaurants in 2014. Jeyakumar quit his job on January 15, 2015 — the day after his brother and his wife left for India and Sri Lanka on a three month trip.

Much to the couple's shock, they returned to Prince George in March 2015 to find a new restaurant running out of their abandoned original location: Kirish Spicy Greens — proprietor Jeyakumar Singarasa.

"The menus for both the plaintiff and defendant's two restaurants offer similar dishes, although Kirish Spicy Greens offers "combo meals" for two, three or four people and the restaurants operated by the plaintiff do not," wrote Duncan.

"The menus for Kirish Spicy Greens and the plaintiff's Spicy Greens Restaurants bear the likeness of a bell pepper."

Remember that old phone number for the original restaurant? The one Jeyakaran Singarasa and his wife gave up in March 2015. Guess who got it for his new business: Jeyakumar Singarasa.

The plaintiffs claimed confusion over the new phone number baffled customers.

Worse still, they said, an internet search for 'Spicy Greens' had turned up an unfavourable review complaining of tough meat and doughy rotis.

'Hard work, not name similarity'

In his response, Jeyakumar Singarasa claimed he had asked for and received his brother's permission to open the new restaurant.

"The defendant says his brother authorized him to use the words "Spicy Greens," but his restaurant succeeded because of hard work, not name similarity," wrote Duncan.

"(He) maintains there are many businesses in British Columbia with similar names, such as "Dollarama" versus "Dollar Tree" or restaurants with the words "pizza" or "Chinese food" in the title."

There's no lack of precedent in the restaurant name game.

Duncan pointed to a situation in which the owners of a Jerusalem Restaurant sued the operators of a Jerusalem Palace Restaurant in similar circumstances.

She said the notion Jeyakaran Singarasa would have given his approval to his brother's breakaway business seemed at odds with the fact he was suing him.

The judge ordered an interlocutory injunction, barring Jeyakumar Singarasa from using the term 'Spicy Greens.'

She found a strong likelihood his brother and his wife will prevail at trial.

In the meantime, Duncan said the sparring 'Spicy Greens' signs run a "high risk of confusion — though the new restaurant can still serve the same type of cuisine.