Scooby Snax chip shop forced to rebrand after legal threats by Warner Bros

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London, October 29: A chip shop in Essex has been forced to change its name having been threatened with legal action by Hollywood studio Warner Bros.

Lawyers for the studio has contacted the owners of Scooby Snax over their use of the name, which they say was named after their pet dog and not the cartoon mystery solving hound Scooby Doo.

But rather than face a legal battle running into tens of thousands, John McNeill and his partner Andrea Smith reluctantly decided to rename their eight-year-old business, the Mirror reported.

The studio became aware of the shop when the owners attempted to register the name, only to be contacted by lawyers telling them to cease trading under the moniker.

“We were stunned,” said John, 51. “I just couldn’t believe that a multi-million-pound company could bully us like this.

“I have had to spend 20,000-pounds on changing everything that has the name Scooby on it. We can prove we had been trading before Warner registered the trademark in Europe but we can’t afford to fight this.”

John, who went into the chippy trade 17 years ago after leaving the RAF, added: “We’ve worked hard to build up this business and won Fish and Chip Shop of the Year three years in a row.”

John said he is going to trademark the chippy’s new name – Johnny Mac’s Plaice – “just to be safe”.

A Warner Bros spokesman confirmed they had -contacted Mr McNeill to protect their “valuable intellectual property rights” of Scooby Doo and Scooby Snacks. (ANI)