Fast-food chain King of Donair is taking action against a royal pretender, Donair King.
Among the remedies it seeks in a lawsuit filed in Federal Court is for Donair King to ditch its menus, signs, packaging, advertisements and its crown logo, as The Canadian Press reports.
In its statement of claim, Halifax-based King of Donair alleges that Donair King has caused confusion and debased the value of its trademark through the infringement of its name and logo.
But that argument may not wash in court. You see, Donair King isn't a crosstown rival chain – it's a single outlet, located in Burnaby, B.C. We're talking 4,424 kilometres away, as the crow flies.
Although Donair King denied the allegations in a statement of defence filed last week, it seems that it doesn't want to make a fuss and has offered to bury the hatchet by stop using its name and trademark as long as King of Donair drops its suit.
So the game of Donair thrones may come to a peaceful conclusion.
Forbes in whale of a lawsuit
The Forbes family, which has owned the namesake magazine for 97 years, is suing the group of investors that bought a controlling stake in the company in 2014.
The complaint, which was reported on Monday by Law360 (paywall), claims the group has failed to repay money it borrowed from the Forbes family to finance the transaction, according to the BBC.
The original deal valued the media company at $475-million (U.S.) at the time of the sale, according to Business Insider.
The Forbes now hold a mere 5-per-cent stake and are accusing the controlling shareholders – Integrated Whale Media Investment – of throwing their weight around. It should be an interesting court battle: a minnow facing off against a whale. Stay tuned for developments.
Ho ho ho – have a stapler
Halloween is behind us and, sigh, the Christmas decorations and sales promotions have loomed into view. Scratching your head for gift ideas? Who better to turn to than Office Depot.
The purveyor of all things needed to keep the modern office humming released results on Monday of a survey revealing the "preferences, quirks, and motivation" of gift giving at work.
Gift cards rank highest at 25 per cent, while homemade goods scraped the bottom at just 3 per cent (so save your baking and holiday crafts for others).
Ranking just above that was office supplies at 5 per cent. That would include staplers, paper clips and toner cartridges. Conveniently, the survey offers a link to see how Office Depot and sister chain Office Max "can make holiday gifting more fun."
Nothing says happy holidays like a new set of file folders.
Bor-ing
Phyllis, Ada, Elizabeth, Victoria, Jessica, Ellie, Sophia and Mary. Bertha and Alice. Nope, they're not hurricanes, whose names these days flip between male and female.
They're all boring names. TBMs – that's tunnel boring machines for those not in the industry. The first eight names are TBMs working on London's Crossrail project, while Bertha has been grinding away under Seattle for the past two years and Alice is making her way under the streets of Vancouver.
The tradition of using female names dates back to the 1500s when miners adopted Saint Barbara as their patron saint to watch over them as they worked in dangerous conditions, as Mining.com explained Monday.
Los Angeles has narrowed down the finalists for its new TBM to 10 names: Lorena, Sojourner, Maya, Eleanor, Harriet. M.A.C., Sally, The Africana, Rosa and Athena.
But Toronto ditched (sorry) the traditional naming practice for its Crosstown line and Spadina subway extension, instead choosing names that reflect neighbourhoods and rivers: Dennis (Mount Dennis), Lea (Leaside), Humber and Don.
While female names may be traditional, probably the best TBM names are for two working on the Spadina lines: Holey and Moley.
Indonesia's Internet balloons
"Loon" may be an appropriate name for it.
That's what Google has dubbed its project to provide free Internet service to 100 million Indonesians. It plans to float big balloons – yes, balloons – 20 kilometres up in the stratosphere to supply 4-G-like speeds to rural users who currently have some of the slowest speeds in Southeast Asia, Quartz reports.
A pilot project in New Zealand went well, and Indonesia is the next step in its goal to have a ring of about 300 balloons circling Earth, according to the BBC.
"It used to take 14 people an hour or two to launch a balloon. Now, with an automated crane, we can launch a balloon every 15 minutes with two or three people," Mike Cassidy, vice-president of Project Loon, told the BBC.
The Indonesian skies could get very loonie soon.