Black business owner accuses Kim Kardashian of stealing her trademark

Kim Kardashian has been threatened with a lawsuit over her moves to trademark her beauty brands SKKN and SKKN by KIM. Her legal team reportedly received a cease and desist letter from a Black business owner who is already using the moniker.

Lawyers for Beauty Concepts LLC claimed that since 2017, the company has provided salon, skincare, and spa services to its customers under the brand name SKKN+. Founded by Cydnie Lunsford, 28, Beauty Concepts uses the same SKKN block letters on its website and social media handles.

According to reports, Lunsford applied to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to register the SKKN+ name on March 28 and Kardashian filed her own trademark on March 30.

TMZ reports that Beauty Concepts claimed to have invested over the last three years a considerable amount of time, effort, and money to develop and market its SKKN+ service. The company insists that Kim’s application for the same name would cause confusion in the marketplace.

Beauty Concepts further noted in its letter that Kim’s application to register “SKKN” was a ripoff of its innovative moniker adding that Kim does little to differentiate the brands. “I have painstakingly built my successful small business with my own sweat equity, hard work, and research,” said Lunsford, according to Page Six. “It’s clear that I established my brand first.”

The company wants Kim to drop the move else it will pursue legal action against the ‘Living with the Kardashian’ star.

“We certainly appreciate and support small businesses, and 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,” Kim’s attorney, Michael G. Rhodes, told TMZ.

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. So while disagreeing with the letter, we’re hopeful that we can smooth things over once both sides speak.”

Kim is currently revamping her KKW Beauty brand which she launched in 2017, according to Page Six. She announced that she will be shutting down the site in August.

“On August 1 at midnight, we will be shutting down the kkwbeauty.com site so that we can come back to you under a completely new brand with new formulas that are more modern, innovative, and packaged in an elevated and sustainable new look,” she wrote in a July 6 Instagram post.