Kim K just scored a major victory in a lawsuit in which she was accused of “stealing” the SKKN line from a Black-owned spa and beauty center.
In documents obtained by The U.S. Sun, the lawsuit filed against Kim Kardashian by a small business owner in Brooklyn has been dismissed.
A notice of voluntary dismissal was filed early last month in the lawsuit, filed in January by Cyndie Lunsford, the proprietary of SKKN+, a Black-owned spa and beauty center who was fighting with the reality star over the trademark for the name.
The wording of the dismissal doesn’t specify if Kim Kardashian paid any settlement.
The Brooklyn spa is surviving and thriving, as it is still open and has numerous positive reviews on several sites.
How It All Started
Cyndie and her firm Beauty Concepts claimed it owned the rights to “SKKN+” and said Kim’s use of the name on her skincare products was confusing their consumers.
The firm said it’s a Black-and woman-owned business that survived COVID and opened a store – only to learn The Kardashians star had launched a brand with a similar name, per the lawsuit.
Beauty Concepts said they contacted Kim Kardashian’s team after she filed papers to get the rights to “SKKN,” told her they already held the trademark for “SKKN+,” and asked her not to use similar branding.
They said Kim’s team ignored the request and launched her line anyway.
Kim’s lawyer Michael Rhodes clapped back and called the lawsuit at the time a “shakedown effort.”
He released a statement to TMZ: “This lawsuit is not what it seems. SKKN BY KIM is a new brand that follows in the footsteps of Ms. Kardashian’s successful KKW line of products. Building on independent research and development, her company filed a trademark application for SKKN BY KIM to protect the new branded products. This prompted the current shakedown effort.”
“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,” Michael Rhodes continued.
“In its letter, 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. To our knowledge, Beauty Concepts sold no products under the SKKN+ name.”
He went on: “Beauty Concepts asked that we drop the SKKN name. Of course, we said no. 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.’ Undaunted, Beauty Concepts then tried to make its business seem more than it was – it leased a new storefront, changed its website, etc.”
Kim’s attorney added, “running a small esthetician business in Brooklyn does not give it the right to shut down a global skincare line.”
Kim Kardashian launched her beauty brand in June and was instantly slammed for charging “insane” amounts. The mom of four, whose sister Kylie Jenner, 24, has had success with her beauty brand Kylie Cosmetics, and skincare line, Kylie Skin, described her new venture as “prestige.”
The SKKN by Kim includes nine products, including a cleanser, an exfoliator, and a toner, totaling $630. Some specialist items, including hyaluronic acid serum and night oil, are $90 and $95, respectively.
Fans were outraged by the high price point, with many taking to Twitter to voice their disappointment.
“$630? That s**t better be super-sized. Who the hell could afford that?” one post read.
Another chimed in: “You can buy all of that stuff for less than $100 with other brands. None of that stuff is special.”
Despite the outrage, Kim Kardashian maintains that the high prices are necessary to acquire ingredients in the items she “would not really miss out on.”
“The products I was using that were comparable were way more expensive, not to compare anything,” she informed The New York Times.
