There can be only one ‘99’ store: Lawsuit

A popular chain of Asian supermarkets is suing another, smaller Asian supermarket for trademark infringement over the use of similar signage: the “99” in the sign, reports the news blog universalhub.com on Wednesday.

99 Ranch, a chain based in Buena Park, California, recently opened an outlet in the Boston suburb of Quincy, Massachusetts, only to find that a store with a similar name — 99 Asian Supermarket — and concept already existed in Malden, Massachusetts, some 20 miles away, according to the site.

In a suit filed this week in U.S. District Court in Boston, 99 Ranch is asking a judge to order 99 Asian Supermarket in Malden to change its name and pay damages and lawyers' fees, according to the site.

The 36-year-old company 99 Ranch claims in the suit that the owners of 99 Asian knew that and deliberately copied 99 Ranch's name and its red-number, green-laurel logo, as seen in the sign, according to the site.