07.01.22
Kim Kardashian and Coty, Inc., who in recent weeks unveiled the new skincare line SKNN by Kim with their partnership, are being sued for trademark infringement by Beauty Concepts, a Black-owned esthetician studio in Brooklyn, NY that is claiming ownership of the SKKN+ logo Kardashian is using for her own line.
According to the New York Post, Beauty Concepts Founder Cyndie Lunsford said she owned the SKKN+ mark for the past four years.
Last year, Lunsford sent a cease and desist letter after Kardashian filed to trademark SKKN and SKKN by Kim. Lunsford, however, contended it was she who established the brand first.
After Kardashian did not drop the SKKN branding, Lunsford brought the matter to the US Patent and Trademark Office, which dismissed the dispute, according to the Post. While Kardashian’s attorney, Michael Rhodes, told the New York Post that her camp reached out to Lunsford many times to “find a sensible path to coexist,” Beauty Concepts did not entertain that solution and instead reportedly demanded “a lot of money.”
Rhodes added that the defendants applaud Lunsford for “following her dreams” as a small business owner, but didn’t feel that gives her the right to claim the SKNN brand did something wrong. He contended that Beauty Concepts did not sell any products under the SKKN+ name, and that the business was a “one-person shop offering facials from a single location.”
Beauty Concepts is reportedly seeking compensatory damages, statutory damages, restitution, disgorgement of profits, enhanced damages, and punitive damages.