Kim Kardashian Hits Back at SKKN Trademark Lawsuit as a Shakedown Effort
In a statement addressing the lawsuit, the reality TV star’s legal team claims ‘the case is less about the law of trademarks and more about trying to leverage a settlement by threatening to harm’ the socialite’s ‘name and reputation.’
AceShowbiz –Kim Kardashian is facing a trademark lawsuit over her new skincare line SKKN BY KIM with confidence. The reality TV star, through her legal team, has clapped back at the claim by small business owner Cydnie Lunsford that the model copied her brand’s name.
Cydnie first served Kim with a cease-and-desist letter in July 2021, claiming that her Brooklyn-based company has provided salon and skincare services under the name SKKN+ since July 2017. The lawsuit additionally claims that it applied to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office back in March to register the SKKN+ logo.
Challenging the lawsuit, Kim’s lead attorney Michael Rhodes now says in a statement that it’s nothing more than a “shakedown effort” from Cydnie to damage Kim’s “name and reputation” and leverage a large settlement. In the lengthy statement provided to Daily Mail, the attorney notes that while they “applaud Ms. Lunsford for being a small business owner and following her dream,” he accuses her of “wrongfully [claiming] that we’ve done something wrong.”
The attorney describes Beauty Concepts as “a one-person shop offering facials from a single Brooklyn location.” He notes that “the salon had no signage and was by appointment only,” adding, “To our knowledge, Beauty Concepts sold no products under the SKKN+ name.”
“Beauty Concepts then challenged Ms. Kardashian’s trademark applications at the USPTO,” the statement details. “Unsurprisingly, the USPTO rejected Beauty Concepts’ own SKKN+ mark saying that ‘skkn’ just means ‘skin.’ Undaunted, Beauty Concepts then tried to make its business seem more than it was – it leased a new storefront, changed its website, etc.”
Michael says they did try to engage with Cydnie and Beauty Concepts LLC to come to an agreement, but “Beauty Concepts didn’t really engage with us beyond demanding a lot of money.” He goes on stating, “Since we’ve done nothing wrong, we stood our ground. We think the case is less about the law of trademarks and more about trying to leverage a settlement by threatening to harm Ms. Kardashian’s name and reputation. That’s not going to work and we look forward to presenting our case in court.”
Michael additionally tells TMZ they’re “disappointed” that Cydnie brought this case to public. “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,” he says. “So while disagreeing with the letter, we’re hopeful that we can smooth things over once both sides speak.”
Prior to this, Kim was slammed for allegedly stealing SKKN line from SKN by Lori Harvey after she announced her beauty brand, formerly known as KKW Beauty, in late May. Lori, for her part, launched her own skincare brand back in October 2021.
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