RIVERHEAD – A preliminary injunction issued earlier this month requires a Nesconset gas station to stop using a name similar to that of a well-regarded competitor which has been in business for 40 years. Supreme Court Justice Thomas F. Whelan found sufficient proof that the customers and suppliers of Gas Heaven, on Jericho Turnpike in Commack, became confused when another station nearby hung up a sign bearing the same name.
According to the court record, the Commack station has been known as Gas Heaven since 1960 and its owner, Rudolph Massa, has been there since 1968. His full-service Amoco station “enjoys a large customer base, services hundreds of cars daily, and employs twenty-five to thirty employees who wear the ‘Gas Heaven’ logo,” wrote Justice Whelan.
