The Kardashian family is no stranger to lawsuits, as they’ve faced their fair share over the years.
Now, with a majority of the sisters expanding their personal brands to include fashion and beauty empires, even more suits have come knocking, with artists and designers accusing the Kardashians and Jenners of copying their work or using their images in an unauthorized fashion.
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Keep scrolling to find out which of the sisters are currently on the legal chopping block.
Kim’s beauty line
Kim Kardashian West‘s beauty line, KKW Beauty, just launched in June, and the reality star is already the subject of a lawsuit regarding the brand’s logo.
Danish makeup artist Kirsten Kjaer Weiss recently filed court documents claiming that the mom of two’s “KKW” logo is “confusing consumers” by being too similar to her own “KW” logo, TMZ reports. The suit calls the alleged logo-snatching, “knowing, willing, and deliberate,” and is seeking profits, damages and a stoppage of Kardashian using the logo.
Sources close to KKW Beauty say the reality star consulted multiple trademark attorneys when creating her line to avoid any violations, and that Kardashian West’s team is confident the line is not similar to Weiss’.
Kim’s phone case
Kardashian West’s company, Kimisaprincess Inc., is facing a $100 million patent infringement lawsuit over the LuMee smartphone case, which integrates a light into the case and is often promoted on social media by the reality star.
TMZ reports that Hooshmand Harooni is claiming that he received a patent in 2013 for a “integrated lighting accessory and case for a mobile phone device,” which he licensed to a company called SnapLight. As Kardashian West reportedly receives a portion of LuMee’s profits, the lawsuit is alleging that LuMee ripped off its design and that SnapLight is losing potential profits as a result.
“The patent lawsuit filed by Snap Light has no merit and is just another attempted shakedown. Kim has done absolutely nothing wrong,” a rep for the Kardashians said.
Kylie’s reality show
Kylie Jenner is known for her famous lips, so it makes sense that she’d have a lip-related graphic in the trailer for her new E! reality show, Life of Kylie. The problem, however, is that the graphic reportedly copied the work of artist Sara Pope, who recently sued Jenner, alleging that the graphic copied her 2015 work “Temptation Neon.”
“Artists like Ms. Pope rely on recognition — not only of their artwork, but also of their identities and their originality — to give value to their work,” Pope’s lawsuit states, according to the New York Daily News.
“Defendants used Temptation Neon without permission in promotional social media posts and in a promotional video featured online and in advertisements across the United States. They are building their brand and goodwill at Ms. Pope’s expense,” the lawsuit added.
Sources told TMZ that the image was created by an independent third party, with Kylie reportedly having no part in the process.
Kendall and Kylie’s t-shirts
Kendall and Kylie Jenner came under major fire recently when their clothing line began offering t-shirts with photos of iconic musicians like Ozzy Osbourne and The Notorious B.I.G. with the girls’ faces superimposed over them. After an immediate backlash on social media, the shirts were taken off the brand’s website, but the sisters are now being sued by photographer Michael Miller, who took the photos of rapper Tupac Shakur that were used on the shirts, TMZ reports.
Miller says he never gave the sisters permission to use his photos and is suing for any profits they made from the items.
Family representative Todd Wilson said Kendall and Kylie had nothing to do with the creation of the shirts, only approving the design and leaving the rest to their team.
“It’s like suing an actor for being in a movie,” Wilson said.
Khloe’s fashion line
While this isn’t technically a lawsuit, Khloe Kardashian‘s fashion line, Good American, was recently accused of copying designs by indie designer Destiney Bleu, who Khloe had reportedly purchased items from before knocking them off, according to Bleu, who posted about the events on Twitter in early June.
After Bleu’s Twitter remarks, Khloe reportedly sent the designer a cease and desist letter, which Bleu shared with Refinery 29. The letter says the suits are “inspired by the 1990’s [sic] and are evocative of clothing worn by Cher and others at that time,” and claims that the company was unaware of Bleu and her work.
Despite that, Bleu also shared a copy of her response, which reportedly contains correspondence with Khloe indicating that the reality star purchased several items from Bleu over several months.
In the image below, Bleu’s bodysuits can be seen on the left while images from Good American’s campaign video appear on the right.
Photo Credit: Instagram / @kyliejenner
