Harrods Department Store Threatened a New Zealand Restaurant

The majority of us are unaware of the existence of the New Zealand town of Otorohanga, but you know who is? Logo for the UK's Harrods Department Store. All because of their attempted lawsuit in 1986.

The restaurant, which Henry Harrod, an inhabitant of the town with a current population of just over 3,000, owned, was once called Harrods. The owner of one of the most renowned department stores in the world threatened to sue if the name wasn't altered, despite the fact that it was a tiny company in a tiny town.

With a case like this, you can't really try to bully a small New Zealand municipality, which is the problem. Instead of giving in, the entire community briefly changed its name to Harrodsville, and nearly every company in the area adopted the Harrods moniker. The proprietors of the department store were embarrassed into abandoning the lawsuit once this received enough coverage in the international media. On the town's Facebook page, you can really see posts from locals who are remembering the incident.