KEY POINTS:
A British shoe manufacturer made famous by the TV series Sex and the City has threatened to sue a Kaukapakapa website owner unless she changes her company's name.
Luxury women's shoemaker Jimmy Choo has told Kiwi gift seller Kookychoo.com it must agree by Tuesday to give up its name or face a lawsuit.
Jimmy Choo New York was a favourite boutique of Sex and the City's shoe-aholic main character Carrie Bradshaw. The shoes sell for $700 to $1000 a pair.
Kookychoo owner Looie James was stunned when she received a letter from Wellington intellectual property lawyers AJ Park, on behalf of Jimmy Choo, telling her new company to drop plans to trademark its name.
She and business partner Vaughan Stanley were prepared to do that, but then another letter this week asked that the company cease trading as Kookychoo.
"He wants us to give up the domain name, he wants us to send all our business cards and any printed material that we have - I mean, such an aggressive letter."
Jimmy Choo claimed the names were similar enough that customers could be confused, Mrs James said. But Kookychoo.com did not sell shoes.
The website yesterday featured gifts such as a teddy bear, a Venetian glass bracelet and a hot pink bean bag.
"There is absolutely no comparison, there's nothing remotely even similar in our branding, in the products that we sell."
In the latest letter, AJ Park asks Kookychoo to "undertake that you will never use the Kookychoo trademark or any other trademark that is similar to Jimmy Choo or Choo in relation to any goods or services that are identical or similar to the goods covered by our client's registered trademarks".
Mrs James said lawyers had told her that she might have a case, but it would cost upwards of $50,000 to fight it.
"I'm a mother of seven and I live out in Kaukapakapa on a little farm, there's no way I have those kind of funds."
Yesterday she was preparing to accede to the British company's demands.
Jimmy Choo was founded by former Vogue UK accessories editor Tamara Mellon and London shoemaker Jimmy Choo in 1996. Mr Choo sold out in 2001.
In a Sex and the City episode, Carrie, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, loses one of her heels on a ferry and shouts 'I've lost my Choo!'.
Auckland fashion designer Trelise Cooper fought a legal battle to stop Arrowtown accessories maker Tamsin Cooper using her own name as a trademark.
The matter was settled out of court last year, and Tamsin Cooper continues to trade under her own name.
