Conran forces Zincbar to change name

The Mean Fiddler Group, has lost its case against Terence Conran with a judgment forcing the group to change the name of its Zincbar in London’s Kilburn.

Conran registered Zinc as a trademark in 1995. When the dispute arose Mean Fiddler changed the name of the bar, designed by Juggernaut (DW 4 April), to Zn, the chemical symbol for zinc, which was disputed by Conran.

The court has ordered that the name of Zn be changed within seven days. Use of the names Zinc, Sinc, Sync, and the symbols ZN or Zn are prohibited.

Mean Fiddler is now understood to be changing the name of the bar to Zd. Des Gunwardena, chief executive of Conran Holdings, says this name will be acceptable. “As long as it is not confused with Zincbar we are happy,” says Gunwardena.

There are only minimal design changes required for the name change to Zd.