Grill'd is taking legal action against Mitre 10 Australia for "hijacking" its brand.

Mitre 10 has released a range of barbecues named 'Grill'd' - featuring an apostrophe and a missing 'e'- a trademark synonymous with the healthy burger franchise.

"The spelling of Grill'd is unique. We've built the company over the past five and a half years, so it's not like we're invisible, especially in Melbourne where Mitre 10 is based," said Grill'd founder, Simon Crowe.

"The grill takes centre stage in every Grill'd. It's part of the reason we say 'Healthy Burgers'... so we believe there's a logical link between Grill'd and barbecues. If barbecues are branded Grill'd and promoted as being exclusive to Mitre 10, we think consumers can be misled into thinking we have an association with them. We don't," he said.

Grill'd has lodged a formal objection with the Trade Marks Office, asking it to reject Mitre 10's trademark.

While Grill'd says that weeks of confidential discussions with Mitre 10 have failed to resolve the issue, Mitre 10 said in a statement that it has been "communicating with Grill'd Pty Ltd on this issue and to allay any possible confusion, we have offered to modify the use of 'Grill'd' to 'Mitre 10 Grill'd' in our point of sale, packaging and advertising material, starting next season".

In addition to the legal action, Grill'd has launched an online and in-store campaign to petition against Mitre 10's use of the trademark. It is asking its Facebook fans to give Mitre 10 a 'slap' for their behaviour and is asking them to support their quest to get Mitre 10 to change the name of their barbecues.

"Mitre 10 likes to portray themselves as the small guy being bullied by the hardware giants," Crowe said. "We find it ironic that Mitre 10 is using the same big-boy tactics against us and doesn't have empathy with a small business like ours."