Kate Attlee founded Sabzi in Truro in 2019, shortly after reaching the quarter-finals of BBC’s MasterChef.
She now operates four delis, an online store, and sells fourteen products under the Sabzi name.
In July, Bloomsbury published food writer Yasmin Khan’s Sabzi: Fresh vegetarian recipes for everyday.
Attlee believes the book infringes her intellectual property rights.
She says the word ‘Sabzi’ and its figurative mark are registered in classes covering cookery books, recipe books, writing materials, and retail services connected to books.
Attlee also claims the book’s figurative mark bears similarities to hers, including line thickness and font stylisation.
Sabzi has published free recipes to its 5,000 newsletter subscribers and on social media since 2023.
Attlee says she was planning to publish her own cookbook building on this collection.
“I invested in trademarking Sabzi, as I felt it was important to protect my brand at the beginning of its journey,” Atlee says.
“We receive countless weekly requests for a Sabzi cookbook, and this has been an exciting upcoming plan for the business.”
“I am so dismayed that a brand as big and powerful as Bloomsbury has not respected my legal rights, and has taken the opportunity to publish a book using the name ‘Sabzi’, even going so far as to use similar stylisation.
“I have always enjoyed reading Yasmin Khan’s recipes and of course trust that this wasn’t done deliberately, however there is no doubt that publishing using the Sabzi trademark undermines the many years of hard work by myself and my team in establishing our Sabzi brand.”
Bloomsbury has been contacted for comment.