DARTMOUTH, N.S.—He stood up. And now he’s won.A Halifax-area barber who accused a national chain of picking on the little guy by demanding that he change the name of his business no longer has to worry about a legal threat.“I was so happy that they dropped it,” Thong Luong said when contacted by phone late Thursday night.“They’re a big company so I didn’t want to fight with them. I didn’t know how far we could get.” The Tommy Gun’s Original Barbershop chain announced Thursday that it was backing down against Luong, the owner of Tommy’s Barber Shop, saying now that he is “well within his legal rights” to continue using the name.“The entire Tommy Gun’s team sincerely apologizes for the cease-and-desist letter that was presented to Mr. Luong,” said the statement issued at 9:30 p.m. ADT Thursday. “Now that we have all of the relevant information, we do not intend to pursue this matter any further. Mr. Luong is well within his legal rights to use his name for his barbershop.”The letter by Michael Hansen, corporate counsel for TG Corporate Holdings Ltd., ended with: “I have reached out to Mr. Luong and look forward to speaking with him soon. We apologize for any undue stress this may have caused him and our local business owners in the Halifax/Dartmouth area.”In an earlier interview with Luong on Thursday morning from inside his Dartmouth, N.S. barbershop, he said he was shocked by the ultimatum that was delivered to him in a letter from Tommy Gun’s on Tuesday. Tommy Gun’s told Luong that he had change his name by May 22, or it would sue.“They’re a big company, if you see their shop you could not believe how nice they make everything, you know? Why they go here and pick on a little guy like me?” Luong said in that first interview.The national chain Tommy Gun’s website states it has “70+ locations across Canad ...
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