Restaurant chain which trademarked 'pho' responds to TikTok backlash

First it was bubble tea, now it's pho. UK chain Pho Restaurant has publicly responded to backlash after TikTok users discovered that the white-founded business has trademarked the common Vietnamese word "pho." This isn't the first time the company has faced scrutiny about this trademark, which dates back to the 2000s.

Pho Restaurant released a statement addressing the uproar on Wednesday, claiming that its trademark has been "misunderstood." 

"Let us categorically say — we would never attempt to trademark this dish [pho]," Pho Restaurant wrote in a statement posted to social media. "Like so many of you who have shared passionate comments about this, we believe that phở doesn't belong to anyone but the people of Vietnam."

Unfortunately, it does appear as though Pho Restaurant is splitting hairs. While Vietnamese people in the UK are free to continue making, eating, and saying "phở" without getting on Pho Restaurant's bad side, the business still claims the right to the word "pho." Some critics have likened it to putting a trademark on the word "burger." (There are currently no trademarks on the word "burger" relating to food in the UK, though there is one on "BÜRGER".)

"It's true that we hold a registered trademark that relates to our brand identity and logo, but this does not limit any other business to use the word phở in their name," Pho Restaurant continued, appearing to lean heavily on that "ở."

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Pho Restaurant was founded by London couple Stephen and Juliette Wall in 2005, after the duo took a trip to Vietnam and "fell in love" with the country's national dish. Both having a background in marketing, they subsequently filed several trademarks for their company, including filings on the words "PHO," "Pho," and "pho" in 2007.

The Walls eventually grew the business into a chain of Vietnamese restaurants, and remained in executive roles after private equity firm TriSpan purchased a majority stake in 2021. Pho Restaurant now has 45 locations across the UK.

"More than 50 other businesses in the UK currently also hold a trademark that relates to the word phở," wrote Pho Restaurant, ignoring the fact that its trademark doesn't relate to the word, but straight up is the word. "As for any claims that we are suing Vietnamese businesses, this is simply not true."

While Pho Restaurant has held this trademark for years, it was recently brought to many TikTok users' attention via a video by Vietnamese creator iamyenlikethemoney, which has accumulated 2.4 million views at time of writing. In a subsequent video, the creator stated that they have reached out and asked Pho Holdings Ltd. to drop the trademark, as well as informed them of her intent to officially challenge it.

"I truly think that this trademark is extremely outdated in 2024," said iamyenlikethemoney.

Vietnamese-owned pho restaurant previously accused of trademark infringement

Though Pho Restaurant states it is not taking legal action right now, that doesn't mean it couldn't. Despite this week's statement, Pho Restaurant's parent company Pho Holdings Ltd. has threatened legal action against small, family-owned Vietnamese businesses in the past. 

In 2013, London restaurant Mo Pho Viet Cafe announced that it would be changing its name after receiving a notice for trademark infringement from Pho Holdings Ltd.

"[W]e have been put on notice by Pho Holdings Ltd (Pho cafe) that they have registered and trade marked the word PHO, as they feel that the use of our name Mo Pho is confusingly similar to their trade mark, constituting an infringement and passing off," Mo Pho Viet Cafe wrote in a Facebook post at the time. "Our biggest surprise was that trademarking the word PHO was possible especially as it's our national dish which is used widely in our trade as a Vietnamese cafe/restaurant."

The Walls confirmed Mo Pho's account in a statement to food blogger Wilkes McDermid at the time, stating that while other businesses could use "pho" in menus or as a descriptor, "only we can operate a restaurant under the name Pho (in the UK)."

"We’re following IP law to protect our brand, which means we have to ask all restaurants, large and small, to refrain from using the trademark Pho in their name," the Walls continued. "And with what we think is a fair amount of time to rename, we know the country’s independent Vietnamese restaurants will continue to do well and serve their local communities."

Significant backlash soon prompted Pho Holdings Ltd. to change its stance, ultimately allowing Mo Pho Viet Cafe and other Vietnamese businesses to keep their names.

"Whilst we will always want to protect the business we have worked really hard to build, we recognise that it is unnecessary to pursue action against independent Vietnamese operators unless they are truly passing off as us, as to benefit from the goodwill of our brand," the Walls wrote in a subsequent statement that sung a much different tune. "We know that the legal advice we received to pursue IP law in such a way was far too heavy handed, and we've decided to ignore it, and we will not continue that course of action any further."

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Though a positive outcome was eventually reached, Vietnamese people shouldn't have to rely on the grace of Pho Holdings Ltd. — or its fear of bad publicity — in order to keep using the word "pho." The company has continued to hold its trademark since, renewing it four years later in 2017.

Speaking to Taste of Manchester that same year, Stephen noted that though neither they nor the majority of their staff were Vietnamese, Pho Restaurant had "all nationalities working for [them], trained to follow carefully constructed authentic recipes." The article described Stephen as "the creator of Pho." Pho Holdings Ltd.'s claim on "pho" is due to expire in 2027 unless renewed, with trademarks in the UK requiring renewal every 10 years.

It seems unlikely that the company will allow its claim on the word to lapse. However, it has changed its position before.