Hailey Bieber’s Rhode Beauty Sued for Trademark Infringement

Call it the debacle at Rhode. One week after model Hailey Bieber launched her beauty brand Rhode, her company is being sued for trademark infringement. The lawsuit was filed by Rhode, a Los Angeles-based apparel company.

In a statement, Rhode cofounders, Purna Khatau and Phoebe Vickers, said: “Today, we were forced to file a lawsuit against Hailey Bieber and her skincare line that launched last week and that is using the brand name ‘Rhode.’ We didn’t want to file this lawsuit, but we had to in order to protect our business. While a global brand, we are still a young and growing company, and we cannot overcome a celebrity with Hailey’s following using our company’s name to sell related products.”

The Rhode fashion company was launched in 2014. It produces dresses and tops in Made in India prints that are sold at Net-a-porter, Saks and other retailers.

In acknowledging that Bieber is in the beauty business, while Rhode is sticking to its knitting in fashion, Khatau and Vickers added:

“Unfortunately, that Hailey is currently focusing on skincare while we focus on fashion has not been preventing brand confusion, and it won’t in the future,” they said in a statement. “We’re both part of a larger beauty market in which fashion and cosmetics closely overlap and often collaborate. Hailey has stated that she wants to pursue a clothing line, and she even applied for ‘Rhode’ as a trademark for clothing. We welcome competition — we just don’t want competitors using our name.”