Kim Kardashian‘s pricey skincare line Skkn by Kim is facing its first lawsuit.
Just weeks after the fact star launched her $630 nine-step system in partnership with beauty giant Coty Inc., Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Black-owned aesthetician, Beauty Concepts, has filed a lawsuit against Kardashian and Coty over trademark infringement.
Beauty Concepts, owned by Cydnie Lunsford, sells skincare products and provides services out of its retail location in Brooklyn under the Skkn+ trademark and in addition sells skincare products through its website. The suit alleges that Beauty Concepts reached out to Kardashian and Coty to request that they abandon their plans to make use of a mark incorporating probably the most significant elements of Beauty Concepts’ mark Skkn+.
Kardashian and Coty were also placed on notice of likelihood of confusion by the the USA Patent and Trademark Office when it issued Office Actions against several of the Skkn by Kim applications based on Beauty Concepts’ prior-filed application for its Skkn+ mark, based on the suit.
“The Kardashian/Coty Defendants didn’t stop and desist but, on the contrary, upon information and belief, willfully and deliberately selected to proceed with their plans to make use of the Skkn and Skkn by Kim brand in total disregard of Beauty Concepts’ superior trademark rights,” the suit claimed.
Beauty Concepts is looking for compensatory damages, statutory damages, restitution, disgorgement of profits, enhanced damages, and punitive damages.
Michael Rhodes, an attorney for Kardashian, said in an announcement: “We applaud Ms. Lunsford for being a small business owner and following her dreams. But that doesn’t give her the appropriate to wrongfully claim that we’ve done something improper. 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,” he added.
Reps for Coty didn’t immediately reply to request for comment.
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