A few small northern Michigan businesses are finding themselves in unexpected legal battles over their own names.

Beulah’s Blue Caribou Cafe is now Ursa Major Bistro after a national coffee chain threatened legal action, says owner Kelly Chorley.

The two-year-old business received two or three “cease and desist” letters from Caribou Coffee, a Minnesota-based, German-owned coffee brand whose lawyers contended the Blue Caribou name was too similar to theirs. Chorley ignored the letters and was sued in federal court in November.

She says she knew they had a solid defense in the lawsuit, but mounting it could have meant bankruptcy. Chorley says even filing an appearance with an attorney in federal court cost $5,000.

“There is no way we could possibly come up with the money to fight back against this corporate giant, even though we have a chance at winning,” she says.

That meant the restaurant had to change not only their name, but their logo, their sign, their menus and they’ve had to make sure the new name is free from trademark claim — something they did for “Blue Caribou” to no avail. The cafe relaunched over the Fourth of July weekend.

Chorley says that the burden of relaunching has been difficult; they’ve started a GoFundMe page to raise money for the transition.

Caribou Coffee emailed a statement to The Ticker saying that company also started out as a small business in 1992.

“We understand and respect the hard work that goes into realizing a business dream,” a company spokesperson wrote. “We engaged in this litigation to protect our coffeehouse name and existing trademarks.” The company says they’ve contributed to the GoFundMe campaign.

Blue Caribou is just one northern Michigan business that’s grappled with a name dispute.

Brian McAllister, who owns the Hofbrau Steak House & American Grille in Interlochen with his wife, says his restaurant will get a new name in the face of pressure from Hofbräu München, a German company that is franchising “Hofbrau” restaurants around the world and sent McAllister a cease and desist letter in March.

McAllister says he considered fighting for the name, but decided it wasn’t worth it. The restaurant has had its name since 1950; McAllister says he and his wife might have changed the name when they bought the restaurant in 1997 but they didn’t feel it was their place to do it. He adds, however, that the name sometimes confuses customers; many believe it’s a German restaurant.

“We think we've been in the community long enough that we can change the name and we can pick something that’s a little more accurate for what we do, you know, steaks, seafood — classic American fare,” he says. “We’re really trying to embrace the idea of change.”

They are considering a contest with a substantial prize to whomever comes up with a new name.

Benzie County’s Food for Thought found themselves in a slightly different position: They discovered several years ago that a large corporation was trying to poach their name.

The Huffington Post and Chipotle Mexican Grill launched a blog called “Food for Thought” with what owner Timothy Fitzgerald Young thought was a very similar logo to the small organic farm and specialty food producer that’s been around 21 years.

Young says he knew he needed to defend the trademark or it could be taken it from him. He wrote to Huffington and Chipotle repeatedly to demand that they change the name of their blog.

“Large corporations could trample a little company like me,” Young says. “They weren’t asking me to stop using the name, but that could actually happen.”

Young took his children on a trip around the country to picket at Chipotle locations and he met with sympathetic store managers. The family even picketed Chipotle headquarters in Colorado. After that, Chipotle removed their name from the blog.

“It felt like a victory to us, but unfortunately Huffington Post is owned by Time Warner, and there’s no soft underbelly for the little guy to go after,” Young says.