Yoko Ono Lennon has stepped in to rescue the name of her husband from fizzy pop reinvention, taking legal action to halt the sale of a lemonade called John Lemon.

The Polish company which sells the beverage, set up five years ago, has agreed to change its name to On Lemon after legal letters were sent by Ono Lennon’s lawyers to the parent company and its distributors across Europe.

It must sell up its stocks of its John Lemon drinks by the end of October.

The family business, which distributes to bars and restaurants in the UK and 13 other European countries, says it did not try to use the image of Lennon to boost its business.

Karol Chamera, founder of Mr Lemonade Alternative Drinks, the UK distributor of John Lemon which is based in Bow, London, told the East London Advertiser: “All of us involved with this product are startups and we couldn’t take on someone who is worth many, many millions.”

Ono Lennon’s lawyers said the lemonade infringed the trademark of her late husband’s name and his personal rights. They claimed damages in the range of €5,000 (£4,400) a day and €500 for every bottle sold and asked the court in The Hague, the Netherlands, to determine damages.

Joris Van Manen, of Dutch law firm Hoyng Rokh Monegier, which acted for Ono Lennon, told the East London Advertiser: “They were abusing and misusing the legacy of John Lennon to sell their soda.”

John Lemon pear and cola lemonade. Photograph: John Lemon

The legal action referenced a Facebook post by John Lemon Ireland showing a large wall mural of Lennon holding lemons with the brand’s logo underneath. Other advertising depicted a pair of round glasses, closely linked with the famous Beatle, next to the words “Let It Be.”

Hugo Bałaziński of law firm KSP, which acted for John Lemon, said the company had registered its trademark in 2014 and that the John Lennon brand was not registered until last year. He said his client had concluded a settlement to avoid the risk of banning production of its lemonade.

He said: “The settlement allowed our client to continue his business and passion in one, however it was agreed that since November 2017 the products offered by our client should rebrand.”

Alex Brodie, a partner at the law firm Gowling WLG, said: “UK law doesn’t provide for image rights as such but passing off and claims for false endorsement do succeed as can cases based on registered trade marks.

“For example, earlier this year BrewDog used the brand ‘Elvis Juice IPA’ for one of their products only to fail in a case brought by the Elvis estate for trademark infringement.”

• This article was amended on 20 September 2017. The sub-heading of an earlier version referred to legal letters saying “drink infringed copyright”. That should have said “infringed trademark”.

