Gaia’s Garden & Apothecary in Morro Bay is being forced to change its name after receiving a cease-and-desist letter accusing the business owners of trademark infringement.
“It hurts a little bit, but we’ll power through,” said Summer Birchell, business owner.
Birchell and co-owner Sierra Mace say they were shocked to receive the letter on Tuesday from a legal team representing the company Gaia Herbs.
“We’ve been building this brand for four years, and just to have it turn upside down, change it, and pivot has been pretty intense,” Mace said.
Mace says she had recently repackaged and relabeled their apothecary products just a few months ago.
“Every label you see here we hand cut, design, and we do it all, so having to do it with a new name is going to be a challenge, but we’ll do it,” Mace added.
According to the letter, the company’s lawyer states they will take legal action if the matter is not resolved by July 8. The local business owners say two weeks is not enough time.
“To rebrand, it starts at the top. Even our partnership agreement has to change, and then all down the line. It really is starting over,” Birchell said.
Mace says that because of the letter, they had to pull out of a local trade show.
“There’s not enough time. That’s in two weeks, and I can’t have all my old packaging being represented there and marketed there because of the cease-and-desist letter,” Mace said.
KSBY reached out to both Gaia Herbs and their lawyer for comment and has not received a response. According to the letter, some reasons for the trademark infringement include a similar appearance and identical goods in the same marketplace.
Attorney Joseph Mandour, who specializes in intellectual property law, is not representing either party in this case. But he explained that, “If a consumer is likely to be confused between the goods or services offered by two different companies, the company that used the trademark 2nd may be infringing on the company that used their trademark first."
Mace says she was aware of the other name prior to naming the store.
“I never even thought there would be any issue as a small town,” Mace said.
“It is surprising that there is a trademark on this scale that is affecting us in our little community, but we’ll fix it,” Birchell said.
As far as what they're renaming their store, “The new name is Lumin Earth Apothecary," Mace said. "Lumin, meaning light.”
They say it’s not the name that people will remember them by.
“But then just getting reminded by our community that people come in for mom and me and what we provide, the healing space that we have for the community,” Mace said.
