María Carolina Herrera, an elderly soap maker from Peru, won a legal battle against iconic fashion designer Carolina Herrera over the right to use her surname as a brand.

María Carolina Herrera lives in Ate-Vitarte, a residential area in Lima, Peru, where she operates her small artisanal soap business. She has always lived a discreet, quiet life, but in 2021 she became known all across Peru and even in other South American countries after becoming engaged in a legal battle with the corporation owned by Venezuelan fashion designer Carolina Herrera. It all started when María Carolina’s son, Dario Morales, surprised her by submitting her soap brand, ‘La Jabonera by María Herrera,’ to the National Institute for the Defense of Competition and the Protection of Intellectual Property (INDECOPI). The request was immediately contested by Carolina Herrera Ltd., whose lawyers argued that another Herrera brand in Peru’s cosmetic industry would cause confusion among consumers.

INDECOPI, the authority in charge of regulating and protecting intellectual property in Peru, was faced with the daunting challenge of settling the dispute between a small local entrepreneur trying to use her own surname as a brand and a massive global corporation trying to protect its interests in the South American country. Both sides had their own arguments, and INDECOPI took more than two years to reach a verdict.

“Carolina Herrera is my name, it is on my ID and I am Peruvian,” the Peruvian entrepreneur said. “I have every right to use it as I see fit. My son wanted to surprise me for Christmas and registered the trademark. Shortly after, I received a notification from a lawyer who said: ‘Ma’am, don’t you want me to advise you on the problem you have with INDECOPI? And I said: What!'”

It turned out that Carolina Herrera Ltd. had blocked the trademark registration of La Jabonera by María Herrera, arguing that both companies sold cosmetic products and the brand name similarities could confuse consumers and damage the fashion designer’s brand. Other small business owners would have just canceled the registration and gone for another name rather than face off against a global juggernaut, but María Carolina’s son insisted that they fight this battle.

The woman’s lawyer son argued that not only was his mother named Carolina Herrera, but that the name Herrera was common enough in Peru that there was no risk of confusion with the Carolina Herrera brand. Furthermore, the two brands were very different both in logo design and the types of products sold.

 

After over two years of litigation that included several appeals, INDECOPI ruled in favor of María Carolina Herrera, with the verdict stating that there was no risk of confusion between the two brands and that both could coexist in the market without problems. The win is significant not only for the soap maker but also for other small entrepreneurs who want to use their legal names as brands. For example, there are over  230,726 Peruvians with the surname Herrera.

In the past, we covered other similar ‘David vs. Goliath’ legal battles, such as the one between Star Wars owner LucasFilm and Chilean car wash Star Wash, and the dispute between DC Comics and family-owned bakery Superpan.