Northern Ont. restaurant ordered to change its name

Parry Sound Courthouse. (CTV News/Mike Arsalides)

The owners of a restaurant in the District of Parry Sound have been ordered to change its name because it’s too similar to another restaurant located just 55 kilometres away.

The owner of the orginal Red Canoe Restaurant in Kearney, which has operated since 2018, brought the motion against the owner of the Red Canoe Family Restaurant, which opened in South River in 2022 and registered its name in 2023.

Edgewater Park Lodge Inc., the owner of the Kearney restaurant, sought a permanent injunction under the Business Names Act to force the South River restaurant to change its name “on the basis that the business name is the same or deceptively similar to their own.”

In response, the owner of the South River restaurant “relies on the argument that ‘The Red Canoe Family Restaurant’ is not similar to ‘Red Canoe Restaurant’ as a fact in issue and questions whether Kearney is in the area of South River.”

The owner of the older Red Canoe restaurant claimed that the South River restaurant used a similar name to deceive customers. It argued that led to confusion among customers, damage to its reputation, loss of revenue and consumer confidence, among other things.

“The applicant further pleads that Edgewater’s Red Canoe Restaurant has adequately and necessarily distinguished the goods and services from that of its competitors and relies on Google Reviews of the restaurant touting a rating of 4.2/5,” the court decision on the case said.

Several negative reviews of the Red Canoe Family Restaurant from Google and Facebook were entered into evidence, with some comments confusing the two restaurants and giving negative reviews.

Evidence of confusion

" The court accepts those conversations as some reliable evidence that there is some confusion as to the distinction between the two restaurants and the nature of the interactions with members of the public," the decision said.

A Google search for ‘Red Canoe Restaurant’ also returns a mix of results for both restaurants.

The plaintiff also argued that advertising and social media posts have caused “potential customers attending the respondent’s restaurant in error, negative views, opinions or reputation being erroneously attached to the applicant’s business because of the behaviour of the respondent, and the goodwill of the applicant’s business being adversely affected.”

The judge in the case wrote that while the defendants are obviously entitled to operate a competing restaurant, they are not allowed to use a name so similar it could confuse the public.

‘Deceptively similar’

“The respondents’ position that the names are not similar is, quite simply, disingenuous,” the judge ruled.

“There is some evidence that satisfies me on a balance of probabilities that the respondents were aware of or ought to have been aware of the applicant’s restaurant prior to naming and opening their restaurant. I am also satisfied on a balance of probabilities that the name is deceptively similar that it causes or may cause confusion in customers, and with, at the very least, a potential for harm to the applicant’s business.”

As a result, the owners must change the name of their restaurant and not use a name that is similar to the Red Canoe Restaurant. They must also remove any social media postings, including Facebook, that identifies their business as the Red Canoe Family Restaurant.

Read the full decision here.