A new pizza restaurant in Belfast is being forced to change its name, following legal action taken by one of the world's most famous hotels.
Cipriani Pizzeria, which opened on the Lisburn Road in Belfast last August, has agreed to re-brand itself after legal action was brought against it by the luxury hotel Cipriani in Venice, Italy.
Lawyers for the hotel, a favoured destination of royalty and movie stars, wanted to stop the Belfast restaurant using the name on the basis it claimed it was flouting a Europe-wide trade mark.
The owner of the Belfast Cipriani, Sicilian-born Salvatore Liberante, has instead given a series of undertakings, including a proposal to change two letters to make the new name Sipriano.
He also undertook to destroy all menus and other materials bearing the trademark of the Venice hotel.
Mr Liberante, who said he named the pizzeria after the English rugby player, Danny Cipriani, said no one in Ireland or the UK was using it.
He said changing the two letters would hopefully be the end of the dispute.
"I can’t really see anybody in Venice being affected by the fact there is a Sipriano in Belfast," he said.
