Hailey Bieber has recently launched her skincare company, Rhode. However, just a few days after its launch, it seems like she is in trouble. Hailey Bieber is being sued for trademark infringement over her skincare company Rhode by a similarly named clothing company. Rhode NYC claims that Bieber’s company Rhode is too close to its brand name, which it has trademarked, according to legal documents obtained by TMZ on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a source close to the model claimed that Hailey and Rhode NYC both have trademarks for different kinds of business, meaning the clothing company might not have a basis to sue her. In the court filings, Rhode NYC claims that Bieber tried to purchase the Rhode trademark from it, but the brand’s owners Purna Khatau and Phoebe Vickers refused to sell. The company also claims that Bieber’s minimalist Rhode logo looks similar to its design, as per Dailymail.
The company, which was founded in 2013, theorizes that Bieber’s company has been so successful so far because of her fame and connection to her pop star husband, rather than the quality of her skincare products. Hailey and Justin have both been promoting the products to those masses. As evidence of the confusion allegedly caused by Bieber’s company name, Rhode NYC’s owners cite customers who have accidentally tagged Bieber or her company on social media when they meant to tag the clothing company.
Rhode NYC is requesting that Bieber’s company drop the Rhode name if it prevails in court. Later on Tuesday, a source associated with Bieber told TMZ that she owns the Rhode trademark for skin care products, whereas Rhode NYC owns the trademark on the name for selling clothing. They also noted that Rhode is the model’s middle name, and they claimed that gave her priority over the clothing company as she was more established in the public eye than it is.
On Tuesday afternoon, Rhode NYC issued a statement about the lawsuit on its Instagram page in which it stuck to its guns. The founders opened by describing themselves as ‘two women entrepreneurs who met in college, built the RHODE brand, and put years of hard work into our minority co-owned company.’ They wrote that they had filed a lawsuit against Bieber, adding, ‘We didn’t want to file this lawsuit, but we had to in order to protect our business,’ before taking a more diplomatic approach by complimenting Bieber.
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