Kim Kardashian is in a new legal dispute with a small, Black woman-owned business over her new skincare line. She has attempted to brand the new products, which launched earlier in June, under the names SKKN and SKKN by Kim — but the Brooklyn-based Beauty Concepts claims that the name is being stolen from them. They’ve alleged in a lawsuit that the name SKKN is a trademark infringement on their salon services name “SKKN+.”
Beauty Concepts’ founder, Cydnie Lunsfurd, first sent a cease and desist letter to Kim’s corporation, Kimsaprincess, over a year ago when both companies went to trademark the name. Lunsfurd, who has used the name since 2018, beat Kardashian to the trademark office by two days. Kim’s lawyer Michael G. Rhodes told TMZ at the time, “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.” He added that he was “hopeful that we can smooth things over once both sides speak.”
