Timbuktu, who is a British clothing retailer, has come under fire for using the word 'Yoruba', which has now led to accusations of cultural appropriation for the clothing brand.
The clothing brand is based in Northern England, and there are records from UK's Intellectual Property Office show that reveals them trademarking the word "Yoruba" back in 2015. Issues arose when an African Cultural Center in London called CultureTree tried to trademark "Yoruba Stars".
This obviously ran into problems when they saw that the world Yoruba had already been trademarked."I thought it was really strange that a company would be allowed to trademark the word 'Yoruba', a tribe and language of millions of people," CultureTree founder Gbemisola Isimi wrote, adding that Timbuktu was strongly against her attempts to register her own phrase. "I feel this is the height of cultural appropriation," she added. She went on to accuse the brand of" attempting to claim sole ownership of a birth right belonging to the people of another continent."
Speaking to CNN, Isimi also said: "I don't think anybody should own 'Yoruba, I don't think it should be allowed to happen."Kelechi Okafor took to Twitter to slam Timbuktu, and said: "On their website TimbuktuGlobal said that "Timbuktu is a fictional place""This is the violence of cultural appropriation, simply deciding that the history of something is irrelevant once you decide that you want it and want to profit off it. Sickening. trademarking "Yoruba"
Kelechi was among many other commenters who felt that Timbuktu's actions were fuelled by cultural appropriation.'Timbuktu' is a word that has been used in the UK for a long time, and usually used in reference to a place that is very far away.Their website states "Timbuktu literally means 'the middle of nowhere,' a location that has intrigued mankind for centuries, whether it's to discover something new or simply escape every day."Residents, do you feel that Timbuktu are in the wrong for trademarking the word 'Yoruba'?