A British company sued the Mexican entrepreneur Michelle Salazar de la Rocha and your partner, Sam Naper, for using the word ‘taquería’ in the name of his taco business. The incident has caused great outrage on social media. Internet users assure that the lawsuit against sound taquerialocated in London, is a case of “cultural appropriation at its best”.
On September 6, Michelle received a 20-page document from the restaurant’s attorneys Worldwide Taqueriareports eater london. The firm, whose trade name is Taqueria UK, requested that you cease and desist from using said word in your name and identity. His argument is that it is “a registered trademark infringement” and, therefore, they now claim the rights to the name.
“The letter came from the law firm of a restaurant called ‘Taqueria’ that registered the trademark more than 15 years ago in the UK. We didn’t know what to do and we got scared, but someone else a few years ago had told us about this business and that they used to do that,” Salazar said in an interview for meter.
Worldwide Taqueria is owned by British entrepreneurs Trent Alexander Ward Y Daniele Benatoff. They have two branches in London, one in Notting Hill, which opened in 2005, and another in Exmouth Market, which opened in 2021. It describes itself on its website as a “Mexican taco restaurant”, with exotic varieties of the iconic Mexican snack. These include ingredients such as goat cheese, tamarind sauce, almonds and crispy onions, among others. Something similar to what they have done with the controversial ‘French tacos’.
The response of the owner of Sonora taqueria
Michelle is no stranger to the food business. Her family owns the restaurant chain The Happy Chickenfounded by the Mexican Arnold of the Rock. A few years ago she came to the UK to study, but she decided to stay and open the small taco business in 2020 together with her husband.
Initially installed in a public park, Sonora Taquería offers various Mexican dishes such as tortas, quesadillas, tortilla chips, aguachiles and micheladas. Of course, their specialty is roast beef and barbecue tacos on flour tortillas, since it is difficult to get corn tortillas there. In fact, the couple also has another business called Sonora Tortilleriafocused on the production and sale of flour tortillas, a specialty from northern Mexico.
Michelle’s food conquered British palates and last July they announced that they would move to a local to grow. It was just when Worldwide Taqueria decided to sue them.
“It’s stupid. The response from Mexicans has been one of indignation. Because it’s ridiculous. There’s no way to put it… And I guess it also reminds me of the fact that everyone thinks there’s no good Mexican food in the UK. But if you can’t even call your taco joint a taqueria, where do you start? It’s another barrier,” Salazar de la Rocha told eater london.
“Basically, the general feeling we’re getting is that it’s worth fighting for,” added Sam Napier, Michelle’s husband and partner.
Can they copyright the word ‘taqueria’?
Ishmael MunozTaqueria UK Operations Manager, commented for eater london that the British company registered its name in 2004. Therefore, the Mexican business would need the permission of the English firm to use the name.
“As with all UK trade mark registrations, the provisions of the Trade Marks Act grant the proprietor the exclusive right to the mark, and those rights are infringed when the mark is used in the UK by another company without the consent of the trade mark. owner’s consent. Therefore, the use of TAQUERIA by Sonora Taqueria Ltd without the consent of Worldwide Taqueria Ltd constitutes trademark infringement,” Muñoz explained.
However, the couple pointed out that ‘taquería’ is a generic term and does not refer exclusively to the British company. Also, in most countries, trademark law does not allow the registration of descriptive words or terms.
“If something is copyrighted, it has to be non-descriptive and distinctive. And the use of the word ‘taquería’ is descriptive and not distinctive,” Napier told the British media.
Sam said that maybe for Taqueria UK “it’s a company name, but for anyone else, it’s descriptive. He is describing what his company does. And it’s not distinctive, because there can be a lot of taquerias, just as there can be a lot of pizzerias.”
According to the Dictionary of the Spanish Language RAE, the word ‘taquería’ means “establishment where Mexican tacos are sold”. That is to say, it is as descriptive as the words ‘restaurant’, ‘pizzeria’ or ‘bakery’, so establishing it as a registered trademark in the UK goes against a section in the trademark law.
cultural appropriation
The news has been the focus of controversy in Mexico and internationally, as many consider it to be a clear sign of cultural appropriation. This is because tacos and taquerias originate in Mexico, as well as being an essential part of its culture and gastronomy.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines cultural appropriation as “the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that you understand or respect this culture.”
Mexicans residing in the United Kingdom started a petition in Change.org to express their indignation and ask for justice.
“It is time we stopped the greedy TAQUERIA UK from improperly owning this UK registered trademark, so that all taco restaurants can add Taqueria to their name, as it should be. The Mexican community in the United Kingdom is outraged and we will not stop until we see justice”, reads the petition that you can sign here.
Sonora Taquería has a deadline of September 21 to respond to the lawsuit, although it has not yet been defined whether or not the case will reach the United Kingdom court.
“The next step is to try to pressure them to drop the case. It is possible to appeal and try to remove the trademark“Michelle told Publimetro. “We don’t know what to expect really. Everything has happened incredibly fast and we have to follow him. We hope to be able to free the word and that there will be many more taquerias in the future.”
Editorial Team The editorial team of EMPRENDEDOR.com, which for more than 27 years has worked to promote entrepreneurship.