A Canadian restaurant is suing the eatery’s building council, after the council said the incoming restaurant’s name was offensive. The fish-and-chips franchise is called “Moby Dick,” after the Herman Melville novel.
Mengfa International in Vancouver, British Columbia, owns a unit in the building, which it agreed to lease and then sell to Moby Dick Restaurant. The building’s council, however, said that the word, “Dick”, in the name is offensive.
Mengfa International sued the council on 9 January, arguing that the Moby Dick name and logo are “not offensive to the public, given its literary significance and fame,” the complaint said, according to Courthouse News.
The council also claimed that a Moby Dick sign would hurt the value of neighboring properties and violate city laws on odor.
“A seafood fish-and-chips restaurant at the commercial property, being itself surrounded by the ocean and harbor, would not devalue the real estate property,” Mengfa International said in the complaint.
Mengfa International could not be reached for comment.
