A U.S. District court has ruled that the Kardashian cosmetic line "Khroma" infringes on the rights of Lee Tillet's cosmetic line "Kroma," due to similar name, marks, and product offerings. (File/UPI)
U.S. District Court Judge Audrey Collins found this week that the Kardashians' "Khroma" brand was likely to infringe the trademark rights on Lee Tillett's "Kroma" line of cosmetics. As a result, 5,321 stores in 48 states will soon no longer be selling "Khroma," leading to millions of dollars in losses.
"This Court has little doubt that, in short order, the Khroma Beauty products will likely eliminate Tillett's business entirely, creating irreparable harm to justify an injunction." Lee Tillett has run a cosmetics company in Florida for years, selling an average of $200,000 worth of products per year.
The judge finds similarity in the marks in that they "sound identical" and "appear nearly identical." The judge also finds that there's a relatedness of the goods in that the "parties both sell cosmetics, and in fact, some of their products are identical, such as blush, compacts, gloss, lip kits, foundation, eye shadow, and bronzer."
"Boldface's ability to saturate the marketplace creates a potential that consumers will assume that [Tillett's] market refers to [Boldface], and thus perceive that the businesses are somehow associated,'" writes the judge, who was also shown examples of Tillett's clients experiencing actual confusion.
The judge writes that she "is well-aware of the impact an injunction will have on Boldface's business, which could amount to millions of dollars in losses. But the Court is also fully convinced that withholding an injunction will destroy Tillett's business, which it has built over a decade, causing losses of hundreds of thousands (and perhaps millions) of dollars in past investment and future revenue."
Boldface Licensing + Branding, which licenses the Kardashians' names and likenesses, is now seeking emergency relief at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
