A mom of four and reality star on The Kardashians, Kim Kardashian continues to face legal issues for her new skincare line as she is being sued for trademark infringement. When Kim announced the name of her new skincare line, she was served a cease-and-desist letter from a business owner that claimed to already have rights to the name. Cyndie Lunsford, the owner of SKKN+, has been serving the beauty industry since 2017 and said that the name of Kim's skincare brand is too similar to hers and therefore should not be used as it may cause confusion for customers.
Despite being served a cease-and-desist, Kim released the name of the line and stated that her ex-husband, Kanye West, assisted her with developing the name of the brand. Kim's businesses are usually successful as her fans are willing to support whatever she does; however, SKKN has been receiving mixed reviews. While some praised the products, others believe that they are not worth the purchase, especially because of the prices. The full collection of the SKKN line comprises of cleanser, a toner, an exfoliator, a hyaluronic acid serum, a vitamin C8 serum, a face cream, an eye cream, oil drops and night oil.
Cyndie's efforts to keep Kim from using the name SKKN have not been effective, hence the trademark infringement suit. Based on reports from TMZ, Kim's lawyer, Michael Rhodes, is insisting that Kim should have the right to use the names SKKN as well as SKKN by Kim. Michael also said that the attempt from Cyndie's legal team to prevent Kim from using the SKKN name is a "shakedown effort." He said, "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." The Kardashians' family lawyer went on to say that the cease-and-desist letter from Cyndie's company, 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."
The lawyer also pointed out that Beauty Concepts has not produced products using the SKKN+ name. The lawyer plainly stated they told Beauty Concepts that Kim will not be dropping the SKKN name. He further explained that "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'." Michael believes that during the legal issues, Cyndie's company refurbished the company website and got a new store to make the business seem more established. Kim's lawyer believes that Beauty Concepts is looking to make money, seeing that "running a small esthetician business in Brooklyn does not give it the right to shut down a global skincare line."
While the family lawyer of The Kardashians has presented reasonable points for why Kim should be able to keep the name of her skincare brand, Cyndie's points are also valid. For one, Cyndie and Beauty Concepts run the risk of losing business as Kim's brand will be more prominent. In doing a simple Google search of SKKN, it was found that Kim's brand initially surfaces. The mention of SKKN+ is only found when it relates to Kim. Similarly, on Instagram, Kim's skincare line appears first when there is a search for SKKN. The two companies are currently trying to settle the trademark infringement suit.
Source: TMZ