Kim Kardashian to relaunch KKW beauty line as – SKKN despite legal issues
A small business owner is challenging Kim Kardashian for the right to use the name “SKKN.” The NYC-based beauty salon has submitted multiple legal documentation to prevent the billionaire tycoon from using the name for her rebrand strategy, whereby Kim plans to relaunch her entire KKW Beauty line under the name SKKN – after she announced last year @kkwbeauty was shutting down this past August. The rational for rebranding, according to Kim is because the name includes her married name, hence the W, representing “West.”
Kim Kardashian has filed multiple trademarks with the USPTO on March 30th for retail sale of “skin care, hair care, nail care, and supplements categories”, as well as “skin and hair tools, as well as home products.”
This sparked the trademark war with “SKKN+” vs. “SKKN”, whereby the NYC-based salon sent a cease and desist to Kim Kardashian. It also came to light that Kim had already secured SKKN.com in addition to various SKKN social media handles in December of the year prior.
The NYC-based beauty company, Black owned by Cyndie Lunsford, also applied to U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in March to legally register the brand logo, after Kim had filed. However, the owner had been using the name in commerce since 2018, yet had not filed with the USPTO to protect the name.
In addition to having her own spa, Cyndie also sells a beauty line of SKKN+ products that can be purchased on her website or in the store.
In recent update, the request for Kim to not move forward with rebranding to use the name SKKN, the request has fallen of deaf ears, and although Cyndie states she does not want any monetary compensation, simply for Kim not to use the name and cause confusion – it seems as though Kim will not change her mind, and according to Kim’s attorney legally does not have to do so.
In addition to SKKN+ vs SKKN, Lori Harvey launches her own beauty line under a confusingly similar name SKN this past July, and filed for SKN by Lori with the USPTO.
SKN, SKKN and SKKN+ selling retail within the beauty and skincare category, may cause consumer confusion and therefore, maybe unable to all co-exist.
