Mayor Christi Fraga (left), handed a City of Doral Proclamation to Liliam M. Lopez, President/CEO SFLHCC, during the South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s ‘Hispanic Leadership Awards”, lunch at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, on Friday March 14, 2025.
Pedro Portal
pportal@miamiherald.com
The Miami-based U.S. Hispanic Women’s Chamber of Commerce is at odds with another local business group operating under the same name, demanding the organization stop using its likeness after an unpaid vendor reached out to demand money.
“This is bad because it’s affecting us and the reputation, not only that I have, but the members on our board,” said chamber President Liliam López.
Yamilet Rivas, the founder of Cámara de Comercio de Mujeres en Estados Unidos de América — which uses the name US Hispanic Women’s Chamber of Commerce when an English-language name is appropriate or needed for documents and communications — said she believes the two groups can amicably find a solution.
“We welcome and celebrate any organization or institution that genuinely shares the goal of supporting Hispanic women and their success,” Rivas said. “There is ample opportunity for all of us to contribute positively to our community.”
The problem became apparent in July, López said, when she received a demand letter for $5,000 from a vendor her group had never used. The company believed her organization had skipped out on a bill, when in fact it had been hired by Rivas’ organization.
Around the same time, López said, potential donors, members of the public and guests invited to a Sept. 23 Washington, D.C. event for her organization were finding the other group’s website when searching for the U.S. Hispanic Women’s Chamber of Commerce. Rivas’ organization had also sent invitations out for a Miami event in October, López said, using their likeness to attract others and honor officials.
López said she was disturbed. She’d founded the U.S. Hispanic Women’s Chamber of Commerce in 2003 to build upon the success of the South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which according to its website had grown “into one of the most prominent and influential Hispanic chambers in the United States, representing over 1,650 members across the region.”
The national organization put on several events, López said, but fell by the wayside as she got sidetracked over the years with a baby, caring for her father and her local organization. Recently, López decided she had the time to take on the project again, and began planning the event in Washington with female leaders from across the country.
That’s when she realized there was now another organization using the same name.
López’s attorney sent Rivas and her group a cease-and-desist letter last month, citing trademark infringement and deceptive and unfair trade practices, the letter shows. López wants them to accept they deceived the community, stop using their name and offer a formal apology, she said.
Rivas told the Miami Herald any concerns about the names “could have been addressed through a simple and cordial conversation between chambers, and we remain fully open to that kind of constructive dialogue.” Rivas also said that by the time López filed a federal trademark application on June 25, her group had already registered its name with the Florida Department of State.
Regarding the $5,000 bill, it has been paid in full, Rivas said. She said the organization’s attorneys previously communicated with the South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to clarify that the reference involving their organization was made in error.
