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An Ottawa woman who has been selling her custom spice blends since she was 13 says she’s being forced to change her company’s name after lawyers for the British pop band Spice Girls threatened to sue her.<\/p>\n
Lily Bond, 22, is the owner of Spyce Girlz Seasoning, an Ottawa business that began with her and her mom at local farmer’s markets, and which is now expanding into grocery stores across Canada.<\/p>\n
But just as she was moving her local business into the national market, she got a letter from Smart & Biggar, the law firm representing the Spice Girls in Canada, threatening to sue her for trademark infringement.<\/p>\n
“That was kind of a surreal experience,” Bond told As It Happens host Nil K\u00f6ksal. “Who would think that a Canadian girl who sells spices is affiliated with the British U.K. pop band that was popular in the ’90s?”<\/p>\n
Neither Smart & Biggar, nor a representative for the Spice Girls, responded to CBC’s request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
LISTEN | Full interview with Spyce Girlz Seasoning owner Lily Bond:<\/p>\n
As It Happens6:41Lawsuit threat from Spice Girls’ lawyers forces Ottawa woman to change her company’s name <\/p>\n
Bond says she started selling spice blends nine years ago.<\/p>\n
“I was being raised by a single mom and money was a little bit tight growing up, and I was trying to buy a computer because I was going into high school,” she said.<\/p>\n
Her mother helped her out in the early days, driving her to local farmers markets and helping her sell her wares.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“People would always see my mom and I together, and they would refer to us as ‘the spice girls,’ and the name just kind of caught on,” she said.<\/p>\n
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Bond was 13 when she started selling custom spice blends at farmer’s markets in Ottawa. (Spyce Girlz Seasoning)<\/p>\n
She didn’t imagine she’d find herself butting heads with a globally famous pop group, she says. But to be on the safe side, she decided to tweak the spelling, branding her company Spyce Girlz Seasoning.<\/p>\n
In 2022, she applied for a trademark in Canada, and it was approved on Oct. 12, 2023<\/a>.\u00a0But on March 8, 2024, Smarts & Biggar challenged Bond’s trademark with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office.\u00a0<\/p>\n The law firm also sent a letter to Bond, threatening legal action if she didn’t cease using the name, noting it was “likely to lead the average Canadian consumer to mistakenly believe that your goods are somehow associated with our clients.” <\/p>\n Why she decided to give up the fight<\/p>\n
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Bond says she hopes the original members of the Spice Girls, seen here at a 2012 performance in London, had nothing to do with the lawsuit threat. (Pascal Le Segretain\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n