Soon after launching a new fragrance line as part of her KKK Beauty, famed reality tv star, Kim Kardashian West is already facing a trademark logo infringement lawsuit that could cause her lots of unforseen trouble. The the 37-year-old celebrity and wife of music artist Kanye West, recently launched Kimoji Vibes perfume in three varieties – Kimoji Cherry, Kimoji Peach, and Kimoji Vibes. An estimated $5-8 million worth of the fragrances were sold in just five minutes after Kardashian introduced them to the world through her social media platforms.
Kardashian is reportedly being sued for allegedly infringing on the logo of Vibes Media, a Chicago-based mobile marketing company which was actually involved in the packaging of Kardashian’s perfume bottles. The marketing company’s logo which has been registered since 2012 resembles a blue speech bubble with the word “Vibes” written in white lowercase lettering. Similarly, Kardashian’s ‘Vibes’ perfume bottle resembles a black speech bubble with ‘Vibes’ written in white uppercase lettering.
The marketing company is seeking unspecified damages from Kardashian’s company for the alleged infringement, and the company also wants the highly lucrative perfume to be entirely destroyed.
This isn’t the first time Kardashian has been embroiled in a lawsuit related to her products. Her company, Kimisaprincess Inc., was hit with a $100 million patent infringement lawsuit in August over the LuMee phone case she endorses. The case features a light that is supposed to help the user to take a better selfie. A company named Snaplight claims the technology was licensed to them, but Kardashian’s reps claims she has done nothing illegal.
These latest legal troubles for Kardashian highlight the importance of protecting all business logo design and content belonging to a company. Since this particular type of theft is not uncommon, logo design companies recommend staying alert by regularly searching for potentially stolen work online. Any stolen work that is discovered should be dealt with quickly by emailing the person behind it and asking for it to be taken down. If the request is refused then the hosting service can be contacted as it has the authority to take down the problematic content if there is adequate proof. If this fails as well, the next step is to speak to an attorney specializing in trademark law.
