Kim Kardashian SUED over SKKN beauty line by NY-based company and hits back with furious response | The Sun
KIM Kardashian is being sued by a small business over her SKKN beauty line.
A Brooklyn-based company called Beauty Concepts has launched a suit against the reality star for trademark infringement over her new brands, SKKN and SKKN BY Kim.
Beauty Concepts claims it owns the rights to "SKKN+" and says Kim's use of the name on her beauty products is confusing their customers, TMZ reported.
The company says it's a Black and woman-owned business that survived the pandemic and opened a store – only to learn that Kim had launched a brand with a similar name, according to their lawsuit.
Beauty Concepts says they contacted Kim's team after she filed papers to get the rights to "SKKN", told her they already hold the trademark for "SKKN+" and asked her not to use similar branding.
They claim Kim's team ignored their request and released her line anyway.
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Kim's attorney Michael Rhodes hit back, calling the lawsuit a "shakedown effort" and claimed it's a just an attempt to get
He told TMZ: "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. This prompted the current shakedown effort."
"We applaud Ms. Lunsford for being a small business owner and following her dreams. But that doesn’t give her the right to wrongfully claim that we’ve done something wrong.
"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."
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He went on: "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 its website, etc."
Michael added that "running a small esthetician business in Brooklyn does not give it the right to shut down a global skincare line".
Kim and Beauty Concepts are still battling over who has the trademark rights.
NEW LINE
The mother-of-four launched her new beauty brand earlier this month and has been slammed for charging fans "insane" amounts.
Kim – whose sister Kylie Jenner, 24, has endured success with her skincare line, Kylie Skin – described her new range as "prestige."
The nine items, including a cleanser, a toner, and an exfoliator, totaled $630.
Some of the specialist products, including a hyaluronic acid serum and a night oil, are $90 and $95, respectively.
'OUT OF TOUCH'
Fans were not impressed and took issue with the high price point.
On Twitter, one wrote: "$630? That s**t better be super-sized. Who the hell could afford that?"
Another chimed in: "You can buy all of that stuff for less than $100 with other brands. None of that stuff is special."
Despite the reaction, billionaire Kim maintains that the high prices are a "necessity" to obtain ingredients in the products that she "would not really miss out on."
"The products I was using that were comparable were way more expensive, not to compare anything," she told The New York Times.
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"I tried to get the quality for the best price that we could, especially the vitamin C serum."
The mom of four also stood by the lengthy nine-step routine, insisting that all the products were "necessary."
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