'Spicy Girl' hot pot dispute boils over, new name needed

Chongqing local Li Jian recently found himself in hot water after documents showed the name of his 12-year-old restaurant in the Shangqingsi area was trademarked by another company.

Li started to run a sidewalk food stall at the night market in the 1990s. He recalled that business was "once brisk", but he closed it due to urban reform projects. So in 2002 he opened a hot pot restaurant.

"We have used the name Lameizi (Spicy Girl) for the restaurant since it was founded. It was written on our business license," Li told the local Chongqing Morning Post newspaper.