German efforts to claim the Great British teapot as its own have been defeated by a small Richmond cafe.

The Tea Box first started trading in October 2007 and within two months found themselves in hot water with a German giant Teekane who claimed they had infringed its trademark.

The Paradise Road cafe featured a black teapot with the spout on the left, a green swirl of tea inside and a handle on the right.

Teekane’s is red with the spout on the opposite side and a handle on the top.

The Tea Box’s owners decided to contest the challenge.

Now, after receiving an early indication from the UK Intellectual Property Office that it would be likely to find in favour of the Tea Box, the German business has decided not to proceed with its opposition to the application.

Jemma Swallow, who owns and runs the Tea Box with her business partner Mike de Souza, said: “We are over the moon that common sense and not commercial power has won the day.

“No one we have spoken to has perceived any similarity between the two companies’ logos. There is no way that people could confuse the brand of our independent, upmarket tea shop, which retails loose leaf teas, with that of a large German tea business, which sells tea bags and doesn’t even have any tea shops in the UK.

“Teekanne tried to force us to change our teapot logo to a tea cup. I’m glad that we decided to stand our ground - it is a huge relief to know that we won’t have to take out a loan to rebrand.”

Lawyer Mark Armitage added: "It is great to have been able to help this small independent British business successfully counter a claim, which most people will view as unreasonable and heavy-handed.”