Kim Kardashian Fires Back At SKKN Skincare Trademark Lawsuit

When Kim Kardashian first started her shapewear line SKIMS, the company had the name Kimono, which caused a ton of appropriation backlash for the reality star.

Source: NBC / Getty

Now, Kim is having similar problems with her new skincare line–but instead of being accused of cultural appropriation, it’s copyright infringement.

In addition to fans pointing out the similarities between Kardashian’s recently-launched SKKN by Kim and Lori Harvey’s SKN by LH…

Kim K and her attorney are firing back over claims that her skincare line is a trademark infringement of the brand SKKN+ used by small business owner Cydnie Lunsford.

Lunsford’s lawyers first served the reality star with a cease-and-desist letter in July 2021, claiming that her company Beauty Concepts LLC has provided salon and skin care services under the name SKKN+ since July 2017. But according to DailyMail, a statement from Kardashian’s lead attorney Michael Rhodes on Tuesday calls this a “shakedown effort” from Lunsford and her legal team to “damage her name and reputation” and leverage a large settlement.

By contrast, Lunsford has accused Kim of trying to use her celebrity status to bully a small business for the rights to use the trademark, according to reports from TMZ.

Beauty Concepts says it is a “Black and woman-owned business” that survived the pandemic “only to learn [Kim Kardashian] was launching her new brand with a strikingly similar name.” In their legal documents, they claim that after allegedly reaching out to Kardashian, they were ignored by her team.

But Kardashian’s legal team doesn’t see this matter as an issue, pointing out the differences in their businesses.

“Several times we reached out to Beauty Concepts, trying to find a sensible path to coexistence,” Rhodes said in their response. “We pointed out that running a small esthetician business in Brooklyn does not give it the right to shut down a global skin care line.”

Kim has yet to publicly respond to criticism from fans over this lawsuit.

Categories: Lawsuits