We are Silvana and Anita. Two Ayurveda practitioners with a shared mission: making Ayurveda accessible to everyone. Not as a last resort, but as a first step when someone feels out of balance. A way of life centered around nutrition, rhythm, prevention, and awareness.
We met during our four-year training as Ayurveda practitioners. While still studying, we started publishing Het Ayurveda Magazine. Driven by the same passion, we now run our practices in Amsterdam and Roosendaal. We are accredited practitioners, and our consultations are partially reimbursed through supplementary health insurance.
In practice, we noticed that clients often needed more than just a consultation. That is why we developed a webshop with supplements, tongue scrapers, and skincare products, and why we write books that help people get started with Ayurveda themselves.
Helping people is in our DNA. And precisely for that reason, we wanted to build everything professionally and carefully.
The name
We thought House of Ayurveda was the perfect name. One place bringing everything together: our practices, Het Ayurveda Magazine, the webshop ILoveAyurveda.nl, the books we publish, and the products we develop for our clients and readers. Excitedly, we submitted our trademark application.
Then the email arrived.
The cease-and-desist letter
Quite unexpectedly, we received a cease-and-desist letter from Rituals through our trademark agency. The message was clear: we had to withdraw our trademark application for House of Ayurveda and stop using the term ‘Ayurveda’ for certain products and services within class 3 (cosmetics and personal care products) and class 44 (health, wellness, and beauty services).
It hit us hard.
When we read online that Rituals had previously engaged in lengthy legal trademark disputes, and had claimed millions in damages, we were deeply intimidated. We are not equipped to fight claims like that. The legal costs alone are beyond our means. We are simply two entrepreneurs with a passion for Ayurveda.
The situation caused enormous stress and uncertainty. Because complying with these demands would make it impossible for us to continue our work as Ayurveda practitioners. Not only was our brand name being questioned, but also our profession and our ambition to develop our own products for clients.
Rituals and Ayurveda
We know Rituals’ products well. We even receive them as gifts from time to time, kindly intended, because people know we work with Ayurveda. But what many people do not realize is that these products have little to do with Ayurveda itself. And honestly, we personally never had a problem with that.
What affected us most was the contradiction: on the one hand, Rituals stated they were not claiming ownership of the word ‘Ayurveda,’ while on the other hand objecting to our use of the word in our brand name.
Ayurveda is not a modern marketing concept. It is a thousands-of-years-old system of health originating in India, recognized by the World Health Organization as a traditional medical system. It is a collective body of knowledge passed down through generations. We therefore believe that such traditional knowledge should not be monopolized by a single commercial party.
From the beginning, we felt we were not only standing up for ourselves, but also for other Ayurveda professionals in the Netherlands. Anyone who practices this field seriously should be able to carry out their profession fairly and openly.
Cultural appropriation
To us, this experience touches on a broader societal question: should commercial companies be allowed to claim and commercialize traditions, cultures, or heritage without being meaningfully connected to them?
In Europe, food products often receive legal protection: champagne can only be called champagne if it comes from the Champagne region, just as Parmigiano Reggiano or Gouda cheese are protected designations. But traditional crafts and cultural expressions rarely receive similar protection. The colorful Rajasthani slippers handmade by artisans for centuries have no such safeguards; a Western fashion brand can freely market its own version. The same applies to Maasai patterns from Kenya and Tanzania, whose iconic red-and-blue designs are used by international fashion brands without recognition or compensation to the communities that carry this heritage.
So where is the line between inspiration and appropriation? And who gets to guard that line?
The conversation with Rituals
We entered into discussions with Rituals’ legal team. It was a tough conversation, approached very aggressively from their side. During the discussion, they indicated they might allow us to use the name, but not as a registered trademark. Additional limiting conditions were also mentioned regarding packaging, color usage, marketing and distribution.
The reasoning was straightforward: Rituals had been around longer, was much larger, and if it ever came to court, they would win. According to them, that is simply how trademark law works. We were expected to accept that reality.
We did not.
To us, that did not feel like a workable solution. Without trademark registration, our brand would remain unprotected while the uncertainty would continue. We therefore asked ourselves: what would remain of our company and future plans?
The media as our only option
At a certain point, going public felt like our only option. We gave an interview to de Volkskrant. Shortly afterward, Editie NL also covered the story. That public attention changed the situation. Rituals withdrew its objection to our trademark application, presumably to avoid further negative publicity.
And with that, we officially became the owners of the trademark House of Ayurveda.
This experience has only strengthened our conviction. Ayurveda is not a marketing term. It is a tradition, a science and a way of life that has supported people in health and balance for thousands of years. We will continue dedicating ourselves to making Ayurveda visible in a respectful, accessible, and professional way, for everyone.
But …
Was this a strategy Rituals used only with us, or are there others who have quietly been pressured behind the scenes by this giant company? People who lacked the energy, strength or financial resources to resist and ultimately gave in under the pressure?
This case has made us think deeply about how commercial companies engage with traditional cultural terms and heritage from around the world…