Queenstown restaurant The Bathhouse has failed in its first attempt to prevent an Australian spa company from taking its name, with a larger court battle hovering overhead.
The acclaimed Queenstown restaurant, located on the banks of Lake Wakatipu, has been in a legal dispute with Australian company, The Bathhouse Queenstown Pty Ltd, which was registered in New Zealand in late 2025. The company outlined plans in November to open a new spa retreat in Queenstown before Christmas.
The restaurant said that the vast similarities in names meant the spa company could benefit from the existing reputation that it had with the public. High court judge Justice Melanie Harland, who presided over the case, said that both parties have taken a relatively staunch position in relation to their respective cases.
Customer confusion was a key issue in the restaurant’s claims, suggesting that social media users had commented with queries and criticisms, and took issue with the defendants allegedly deleting comments on social media. It claimed that this was evidence of the confusion.
The validity of these claims was questioned, as the spa company claimed 10 of the 17 people the restaurant cited were potentially linked to it or were associated with the restaurant in some way. The restaurant denied instigating any comments.
Justice Harland said that it could not be ignored that there had been some confusion regarding the name similarities, but given that both businesses operate in different markets, this confusion was likely to continue once the defendants commenced operations, which was arguable.
“It is not appropriate to make any further comment about these matters because any links to any of the parties and the significance of them require further evidence and cross-examination,” Justice Harland said.
The spa company promised Justice Harland that it would explain the difference between the businesses and refer any confused customers to the restaurant’s website. It also said it would accept a compromise, changing its name to “The Bathhouse Spa Queenstown”.
The restaurant argued that this was not sufficient, despite Justice Harland being satisfied that the compromise prevented the need for a temporary prohibition of using “The Bathhouse” entirely.
“In my view, inclusion of the term “spa” in the defendant’s trading name is likely to reduce confusion between customers while awaiting the substantive proceedings.”
The case is set to continue in February.
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