Can another business use the name Motor Supply? Columbia top restaurant sues for name rights

One of Columbia’s top restaurants is suing a trucking company over the rights for the Motor Supply name.

Motor Supply Company Bistro is one of the oldest restaurants in Columbia’s Vista and one of the top-rated city-wide. The upscale eatery opened in 1989 in a building formerly used by a mechanic and motor supply business – hence the restaurant’s name.

Now, a trucking company doing business as Motor Supply Inc. has caused confusion, a lawsuit seeking to defend the restaurant’s trademark alleges.

The two businesses have been quietly battling since late 2021. Now, a jury could decide who has a right to the Motor Supply name.

Motor Supply Co. is spelled out in bright neon letters on a vintage sign outside of one of Columbia’s premier fine dining restaurants. The business’ first owner, Eric Nord, found the sign while renovating the historic building and the rest was history.

Before he bought it, the structure housed an auto-shop. The owners were in their 90s and ready to retire, according to court filings.

Eddie Wales, a one-time waiter at Motor Supply Co. Bistro, bought the shop from Nord in 2000 and has led the restaurant ever since.

Motor Supply Inc, is a newer presence in Columbia. The long-haul trucking company was incorporated in 2019, according to the South Carolina Secretary of State’s Office. It’s website, motor-supply.com, says it specializes in “dry van, flatbed, power only, and temperature-controlled freight.”

The company’s office address is listed as 1332 Main Street, Suite 204 – inside the Arcade Mall in downtown Columbia.

Wales learned about Motor Supply, Inc. in 2021. In November of that year, Wales’ attorneys sent the business a cease and desist letter asking that they stop using the Motor Supply name because it was causing confusion in town and among other business owners, according to a legal complaint filed Feb. 2022.

The confusion led some to question if the businesses were associated and other business owners asked Wales about the dual names, attorneys for the restaurant Lyndey Bryant and Kirby Shealy argued in the complaint.

“I’m not a litigious person, I’ve never been involved in a lawsuit or anything,” Wales told The State. “But we … have worked hard for over 33 years now to build this business and our brand in the Columbia area and the surrounding areas and I need to do what I have to to defend that brand.”

An attorney for Motor Supply Inc., the trucking company, did not respond to questions by press time.

The Motor Supply Co. Bistro is incorporated under the name The Vista Cafe, Inc, which it has operated under since 1989. In Nov. 2021, Wales trademarked the Motor Supply Company Bistro name. That trademark is active until Nov. 12, 2026, according to the South Carolina Secretary of State website.

Motor Supply Inc.’s attorneys have argued that “if there is no likelihood of confusion, classic trademark law mandates that it is possible that the exact same marks can peacefully coexist on different goods and services,” they wrote in a motion responding to Wales’ initial complaint.

Champion, Delta, Eagle and United, for example, are all names shared by companies in different industries, the response adds.

The attorneys argue that a restaurant is “vastly different and unrelated” to a trucking company and that Wales has not provided evidence that the shared names have harmed the Motor Supply Co. Bistro’s business.

The trucking company is being represented by Dawes Cooke, Hunter Freeman and John Fletcher.

The case is on a jury roster for Richland County Circuit Court, noting that the case won’t be heard before August 14.