Three little letters - bnb-side’s name is a play on the local b-side arts festival, but Silicon Valley colossus sees threat to global brand.
On the other is Airbnb, the San Francisco-based booking colossus. The battle between them is over the three little letters they share.
B-side says the “bnb” in bnb-side means what it has always meant: bed and breakfast.
In May, it sent the first of three legal letters to the small social enterprise to demand it cease its attempt to register the B&B using the name it had used since it opened its doors.
For bnb-side, losing the argument could mean more than abandoning a clever name.
Airbnb has opposed the name on three separate legal grounds: that consumers will confuse the two brands, that bnb-side could benefit from or damage Airbnb’s reputation, and that bnb-side will financially profit by misrepresenting itself as an official Airbnb service.
B-side is asking the Intellectual Property Office to reject Airbnb’s opposition in full, with costs awarded in their favour.
Cat Wightman, manager of bnb-side, said: “It’s pretty bitter.”
Craig Beaumont, a trademark attorney and senior associate at Barker Brettell, a law firm that specialises in intellectual property, said that for all Airbnb’s might, this would not be a win for them.
Bnb-side are not the only company who agree with Beaumont: Companies House records show that in the past decade 14 accommodation companies with “bnb” in their name successfully registered their businesses.
An Airbnb spokesperson said: “Earlier this year, we were told of a UK trademark application for “bnb-side” covering a wide-range of services, including holiday home bookings.”