Former Keeping Up With The Kardashians star Kim Kardashian received a cease-and-desist letter after trying to trademark SKKN. Kim recently announced that she would be rebranding her beauty line KKW Beauty with completely new formulas and new elevated packaging. While Kim's team has said the rebrand has nothing to do with her impending divorce from Kanye West, it seems that may have had something to do with the new name change.
Late last year, reports began to circulate about a potential divorce between Kim and Kanye. The couple was seen together less and less, which made fans believe their relationship was on the rocks. Fast forward to February of this year when news broke that Kim and Kanye had decided to divorce after seven years of marriage. Now that Kim is a single woman again, she is not only rebranding her beauty line but also herself.
As reported by TMZ, the 40-year-old hit a minor bump in her rebranding phase, as she was given a cease-and-desist letter for trying to trademark SKKN. The lawyers for Beauty Concepts LLC sent the letter to Kim's legal team, claiming their client has provided salon and skincare services under its SKKN+ brand name since July 2017, which is owned by Cydnie Lunsford. The letter obtained by the news outlet explained that it operates a website and social media handles using the same letters, and they applied to the United States Patent and Trademark Office in March 2021 to register the SKKN+ logo. The company has put in a considerable amount of money and time to develop the service over the past three years and wouldn't want any confusion from the marketplace if Kim uses a similar name.
The reality star's attorney, Michael G. Rhodes, said, "Our hat is off to Ms. Lunsford. But the question at hand is one of trademark law and we’ve not done anything deserving of legal action by her." He added, "We are disappointed that she has chosen to run to the media knowing that we were scheduling a call for tomorrow, requested by her attorney." Nonetheless, Kim and her team are "hopeful" both parties can reach an agreement outside of the press. However, Beauty Concepts believes Kim's trademark is a rip-off of their unique logo, and adding "by Kim" does little to distinguish the two. Besides the trademark, SKKN.com and the @SKKN social media handles were taken by her team in December 2020, meaning Kim has had the name of her rebrand in mind for quite some time.
Even though Kim has been hit with another legal snafu, that isn't going to stop her from creating the best products for her fans. KKW Beauty was a hit, not only for her long-time followers but also for professionals in the beauty industry. Hopefully, the Keeping Up With The Kardashians star and her team can sort her legal issues out and provide her fans with another successful line.
Sources: TMZ