When the owner of a small Keighley business was contacted by the multi-billion dollar toystore Toys "R" Us demanding he change his company's name, he thought it was a joke.

The giant American toystore has threatened legal action unless Inkjets-R-Us changes its name.

Owner of the Keighley business, which is based at Mantra House in South Street, Chris Cooper said he thought it was a joke when he received a "cease and desist" letter at the beginning of July.

He said: "We are a relatively quiet business selling Inkjet cartridges and printer-related consumerables - we have steady work and have been operating like this quite happily for three years.

"Then out of the blue, I was contacted by lawyers saying they were representing Geoffrey, which owns Toys "R" Us.

"I was asked to sign a declaration saying I would change the company name and domain name of our website - which is www.inkjets-r-us.co.uk

"They said I had three months to change it. But there are so many bogus things around, I thought it was suspicious. I genuinely found it laughable and thought it was a joke."

Mr Cooper then made some phone calls to the UK head office of Toys "R" Us, the legal firm representing them - Denton, Wilde and Sapt - as well as Toys "R" Us in New York.

Toys "R" Us, which owns several "R" Us trademarks, also owns internet domain names such as Kidsrus.com, Boysrus.com, and Dollsrus.com

Because Toys "R" Us also sells some computer software, they believe that customers could believe that Inkjets-R-Us is owned, licensed, sponsored, or in some way connected to them.

Toys "R" Us is an $11 billion company with 1,600 stores worldwide.

Mr Cooper said: "I was told by Toys "R" Us in New York that they had won 48 court cases in America for the same sort of thing.

"We have no choice but to change our name really."

Mr Cooper last heard from the company on July 29 and is waiting to see how things progress.