A NATIONAL publisher has denied it is breaching the intellectual property rights of a Cornish delicatessen chain.

Sabzi owner Kate Attlee claims Yasmin Khan’s cookbook of the same name infringes her trademarked brand, and that publisher Bloomsbury has refused requests to change the name of the title.

Former BBC MasterChef quarter-finalist Kate, 37, launched Sabzi in 2019 and has branches in Truro, Falmouth, Padstow and Nansledan, near Newquay.

“I invested in trademarking Sabzi, as I felt it was important to protect my brand at the beginning of its journey,” she said. “I am so dismayed that a brand as big and powerful as Bloomsbury has not respected my legal rights.”

A spokesperson for Bloomsbury said: “The term Sabzi is part of the shared culinary vocabulary of many cultures, including Ms Khan’s own heritage. In various languages, including Farsi and Urdu, it simply means vegetables or greens, or a dish made with vegetables.

“It is a term that Ms Khan, an award-winning cookbook author, has used previously during her writing career, including in her cookbook The Saffron Tales.

“The common usage of the term Sabzi in connection with recipes for vegetable dishes is evident from a simple internet search. The term is commonly used in restaurants around the UK to describe various vegetable dishes.

“Ms Khan has used the term as the title of a cookbook consisting of vegetarian recipes from or inspired by Iranian and South Asian culinary traditions. It is widely accepted that the use of a descriptive term as the title of a book in order to denote the book's subject matter - as Ms Khan has done - does not function as trademark use.

“Ms Khan commenced work on Sabzi in 2017, well before the first Sabzi deli was opened. We have responded in detail to Ms Attlee's complaint through the proper channel, her legal representatives.”