Skippack Restaurateur Sued Over New Taco Spot’s Name

The owners of Cantina Feliz in Fort Washington are suing Rene Hernandez Zepeda, owner of Skippack’s La Villa Mexican Grille, over the name of his new Ambler restaurant, Taco Feliz, according to Philly.com.

Timothy Spinner and Brian Sirhal are owners of Feliz Restaurants in the Philadelphia region, including Cantina Feliz, La Calaca Feliz in Fairmount and Taquerie Feliz in Manayunk, and they claim that Zepeda knowingly used “Feliz” in the title of his new restaurant in Ambler, which is just two miles from the duo’s Fort Washington restaurant.

“The likelihood of confusion is unmistakable,” the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, alleges. “By marketing a Mexican restaurant using the Taco Feliz designation in the same market as the Feliz restaurants, consumers are likely to purchase meals at Taco Feliz believe it to be on of the critically-acclaimed Feliz restaurants.”

According to Philly.com, Hernandez “never heard of” Spinner and Sirhal’s Feliz brand, and that it is “a very common [restaurant] name in Mexico.”