Naka Electric suing Naka Power, N.W.T. gov't over similar name

The owner of Naka Electric has asked the N.W.T. Supreme Court to review the territorial government's decision to let Northland Utilities register names like Naka Power (NWT) and Naka Power (Yellowknife) without obtaining consent from him.

Naka Electric, a Yellowknife business, filed a lawsuit against Northland Utilities, which rebranded itself last year as Naka Power. The territorial government is also named in the lawsuit.

Arguments in the case were presented in the N.W.T. Supreme Court on Wednesday to Justice Shannon Smallwood.

According to the company's website, Naka Electric is a contracting business that specializes in electrical work at mines. Owner Karel Pekelsky was represented in court by lawyer Neil Tichkowsky.

Tichkowsky argued that the registrar was wrong to decide Naka Power (NWT), Naka Power (Yellowknife) and Naka Power Utilities were different enough from Naka Electric to be registered without permission from Pekelsky, and that the registrar didn't follow reasonable procedures in making this decision.

Naka Power argued that the lawsuit should be thrown out and it should be able to continue to use these company names.

The arguments

Tichkowsky argued that the N.W.T.'s laws around the naming of businesses don't allow companies to use names that are similar enough to those of other businesses to "confuse or mislead" the public — except if they obtain permission from the similarly named business beforehand.

He argued that this rebranding from Northland Utilities could indeed confuse or mislead people.

A central part of his argument was that the registrar did find the name Naka Power on its own to be close enough to Naka Electric that the company needed Pekelsky's consent to use the name. Pekelsky did not give his consent, and the name Naka Power was never registered.

Tichkowsky argued that Naka Power (NWT) and Naka Power (Yellowknife) were not meaningfully different from Naka Power as names, and that because of this Naka Power should have needed Pekelsky's permission to use those names as well.

Tichkowsky said his client is asking the court to bar the utility company from registering the name Naka Power (Yellowknife), Naka Power (NWT) and Naka Power Utilities — or to require the registrar who approved the names to provide written reasoning as to why the names were not too similar to Naka Electric.

Lawyer Christopher Buchanan, who represented Naka Power, argued that the registrar had discretion to decide that those names were meaningfully different from Naka Power, and that this was a reasonable judgment because they look and sound different. 

He also argued that the similar names Naka Power and Naka Electric would not confuse the public because Naka Power and Naka Electric have very little overlap in the services they offer and customers they serve, and are not in competition.

He also argued the names were not confusing because "electric" connotes that a business does electrical work, whereas "power" is often included in the names of utility companies.

He asked the court to throw out Pekelsky's lawsuits. He said even if the court decided Pekelsky's lawsuit over the names Naka Power (NWT) and Naka Power (Yellowknife) had merit, the lawsuit over the Naka Power Utilities should be thrown out because the addition of "utilities" makes the name more distinctive.

Justice Shannon Smallwood reserved her decision on the lawsuit.