Canadian “Spyce Girlz” Business Forced to Change Name After Spice Girls Legal Threat
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An Ottawa entrepreneur who built a successful seasoning company from a teenage side hustle is being forced to change the name after a legal challenge from the Spice Girls. Lily Bond started selling taco seasoning at local farmers’ markets when she was just 13 years old, originally hoping to make enough money to buy a laptop for school. Customers began referring to her and her mom as the “spice girls,” which eventually inspired the brand name “Spyce Girlz.”
Over the next several years, the business grew far beyond its farmers’ market beginnings. Bond expanded her line to include several spice blends such as taco seasoning, Greek seasoning, Montreal steak spice and Sunday dinner seasoning. The brand eventually made its way into about 150 grocery stores across Ontario, including chains like Farm Boy and Longo’s, and the company now brings in more than $100,000 in revenue.
Bond even secured a federal trademark approval in 2023. However, only a few months later, lawyers representing the Spice Girls sent a letter arguing that the name “Spyce Girlz” sounds identical to the band’s name and could lead consumers to believe the products were connected to the famous pop group. The letter demanded she withdraw the trademark and destroy any packaging bearing the name.
Bond initially attempted to fight the challenge herself, noting that the band’s trademark did not specifically cover seasonings. But after nearly a year navigating the legal process without a lawyer and facing the potential cost of a prolonged legal battle with a globally famous group, she ultimately decided to abandon the trademark fight.
Now she must rebrand the company entirely and deal with roughly 10,000 packages of seasoning that still carry the “Spyce Girlz” name before launching the business under a new identity.
The story of the Spice Girls vs. the Spyce Girlz is covered in this week’s Keep Canada Weird Podcast
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