Top London restaurant, Cipriani, situated in trendy Mayfair, which has hosted the likes of the Beckhams, Naomi Campbell and Bernie Ecclestone, has been forced to cease trading unless it changes its name.

A High Court has warned the Italian-cuisine restaurant that it has been illegally using the name 'Cipriani' and is now liable for damages and legal costs. The father and son team, Arrigo and Giuseppe Cipriani, are reportedly devastated after a judge's ruling that they are guilty of trade mark infringement.

The case was brought by the proprietor of the European trade mark 'Cipriani', owners of the Venice-based Hotel Cipriani (built in 1958 by Giuseppe Cipriani senior, a restaurateur) part of the Orient Express Hotels Ltd. In 1967, Giuseppe Cipriani senior sold his interest in the company which owned Hotel Cipriani and agreed that the company would have the exclusive right to use the name 'Cipriani'. At the High Court yesterday, the judge ruled that the Mayfair restaurant, its Luxembourg-based parent company Cipriani Interbational SA, and Giuseppe Cipriani personally, were all liable for breach of Hotel Cipriani trade mark and also stated that use of the 'Cipriani' name was not in accordance with honest practices in industrial and commercial matters.

Hotel Cipriani is now entitled to an injunction preventing the father and son carrying on a restaurant business in the UK using the name Cipriani or anything similar to that name.

Paul White, president and chief executive officer of Orient-Express Hotels, said, "We are entitled to protect this famous name in Europe and it was important to us to do so."