Burlington bakery looses suit over name

     On Monday district judge Michelle Tannehall threw out the second effort at litigation by Joan Sommer, owner of Burlington-based bakery "My Little Cupcake".  Summer has been more than vocal in her effort to stop local businessman Amir Hadjera from establishing a rival bakery on Church Street that he plans to name "My Medium-sized Cupcake", and has twice tried to use the courts to prohibit him from using a name so similar to that of her business.  The ruling stated that there is "no evidence that the similarity in names was anything more than a coincidence", an argument that Hadjera has adamantly defended all along.  "When I registered the business, I was trying to identify a name that best outlined our product." says Hadjera.  "I had no idea that there was another bakery in town with the name "My Little Cupcake", but even if I had it would not have changed anything.  Why would someone want to advertise the fact that their cupcakes are little?  I would think that would scare away customers."  Sommer insists that the opening of Hadjera's business is a marketing gimmick that aims to steal some of her customer base.  "This is an obvious efeort to capitolize on the success that we have had as a bakery and to mock the fact that our cupcakes are small"  remarked Sommer outside of the courthouse today.  "The bigger issue is that cupcake purchases are predicted to shrink around ten percent annually because of the fading of the cupcake resurgance (know among bakers as ck 2), and the rise of the bagel trend.  Burlington is not a big enough market for two cupcake shops, even if he is planning to, as he claims, make almost exclusively savory cupcakes."  Sommers alluded to Hadjera's claim that he will feature savory cupcakes with classic american taste themes, such as burger and fries, tuna melt, veggie burger, and General Tso's chicken.  The ruling has cleared the temporary hold on construction that the city permit board had placed on the new bakery.  Hadjera says that he plans to begin construction next week.   

Joan Sommers in July at a table with some of her "little cupcakes".