The rebrand of KKW Beauty comes after her divorce from ex-husband, Kanye West. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday by Beauty Concepts—a small, Brooklyn-based cosmetic company owned by esthetician Cydnie Lunsford—claims that they have used the brand name SKKN+ since August 2018, further alleging that Kardashian and collaborative brand Coty “have leveraged their fame to immediately achieve great commercial success and brand awareness with the products sold under the SKKN BY KIM brand.” Lunsford claims that her company made contact with Kardashian and Coty, yet they “did not cease and desist but, to the contrary, upon information and belief, willfully and deliberately chose to proceed with their plans to use the SKKN and SKKN BY KIM brand in total disregard of Beauty Concepts’ superior trademark rights.” Kardashian’s lawyer, Michael Rhodes, denied allegations of trademark infringement, telling ET that, “This lawsuit is not what it seems. SKKN BY KIM is a new brand that follows in the footsteps of Ms. Kardashian’s successful KKW line of products. Building on independent research and development, her company filed a trademark application for SKKN BY KIM to protect the new branded products.” Rhodes further claims that the legal action is a “shakedown effort,” citing evidence that Lunsford’s brand was merely an appointment-only establishment with no signage prior to news of Kardashian’s skincare line. “In its letter, Beauty Concepts claimed to own rights to a logo made up of SKKN+, and had just filed for trademark protection for that logo. The business was a one-person shop offering facials from a single Brooklyn location. The salon had no signage and was by appointment only. To our knowledge, Beauty Concepts sold no products under the SKKN+ name,” Rhodes claims. “Beauty Concepts asked that we drop the SKKN name. Of course we said no. Beauty Concepts then challenged Ms. Kardashian’s trademark applications at the USPTO. Unsurprisingly, the USPTO rejected Beauty Concepts’ own SKKN+ mark saying that ‘skkn’ just means ‘skin.’” “Undaunted, Beauty Concepts then tried to make its business seem more than it was – it leased a new storefront, changed it website, etc,” Rhodes alleges. “Several times we reached out to Beauty Concepts, trying to find a sensible path to coexistence. We pointed out that running a small esthetician business in Brooklyn does not give it the right to shut down a global skincare line. In the end, Beauty Concepts didn’t really engage with us beyond demanding a lot of money. Since we’ve done nothing wrong, we stood our ground.” Beauty Concepts is demanding that this suit go to trial by jury, and is asking the court to award them “damages, including, but not limited to, compensatory damages, statutory damages, restitution, disgorgement of profits, enhanced damages, punitive damages, and prejudgment and post-judgment interest.” In addition, the suit is asking for funds to “pay for and implement a campaign of corrective advertising and to disgorge its ill-gotten gains and to withdraw all USPTO trademark applications featuring SKKN or SKKN BY KIM.” “We think the case is less about the law of trademarks and more about trying to leverage a settlement by threatening to harm Ms. Kardashian’s name and reputation,” Rhodes said in a statement. “That’s not going to work and we look forward to presenting our case in court.” Adding to the trademark drama, it has also been pointed out how similar the reality star’s beauty line relaunch is to Lori Harvey’s brand, SKN by LH, which released in October 2021. Fans noticed the lack of originality on all parts, questioning if this could be a marketing team error or just plain oversight. The reality star has caught heat behind names of her brands before, when she teased KIMONO before settling on SKIMS for her line of undergarments and loungewear, changing the name pre-release after being accused of cultural appropriation. Kardashian also recently wrapped up a legal spat with Blac Chyna, who accused the media personality and her family of defamation. Next, Kim Kardashian explains why she thinks KUWTK became so popular!
