Two dads who went head-to-head with a US drinks giant in a “David and Goliath” battle to save their start-up pizza company have once again come up victorious after being dragged through the courts again.

Monsta Pizza, based in Wendover, won a case against Monster Energy last August after the conglomerate “aggressively” pursued the travelling pizzeria for more than a year for the use of the word ‘monster’ in its name.

The pizzeria, run by dads Chris Dominey – known as Dom – and Chris Lapham, came out on top with the UK Intellectual Property Office ruling in August that the drinks company had “failed” in its attempt to prevent Monsta Pizza from using the name.

But Monster Energy appealed the decision in September and dragged the pair through the courts again in January, with a crowdfunding campaign set up to help them pay their legal bills after Mr Dominey said the expensive legal costs were threatening to sink their business.

In a decision letter seen by the Bucks Free Press, the appeal was “rejected in its entirety” on a number of different factors, including that the two goods were “not at all similar” and that consumers would not “immediately” link the two together.

Speaking to the Free Press, Mr Dominey said: “We feel more relieved than anything else. This started almost two years ago and hopefully that’s that done now so we can go back to being Monsta Pizza and growing our business.

“We want to thank everyone who donated to our crowdfunding campaign – we raised £3,795 in the first week or so, so that was really great.

“We are still about £4,000 in the red but that money really helped.

“It has definitely been worth it. It was a personal thing for me. I started this business to do something different for myself and I thought I’m not going to let someone ruin it for me.

“When the costs started mounting up it did become a bit stressful, but I kept going and had faith that I was right – and I was.”

The pizzeria has been seen at a number of food and drinks markets and festivals around south Bucks, including Marlow and High Wycombe.

Mr Dominey said Monster Energy Drinks paid Monsta Pizza's court fees but was not liable to pay their solicitors' fees.

Praising the Wendover community, he added: “The community support has been amazing. Everyone’s been very encouraging – pretty much everyone I know, and a lot of people I don’t know, have contributed to the crowdfunding campaign.

“On the whole it’s been a very positive experience for that reason. It’s restored my faith in the system.”

The crowdfunding campaign is still open. To donate, visit www.crowdjustice.com/case/save-the-monsta.