Hailey Bieber is finding herself in some legal trouble, after recently launching her skincare line.Â
A 9-year-old fashion company that shares the name of her skincare line, Rhode, is suing Bieber for trademark infringement.
‘Rhode NYC’, according to legal documents obtained by TMZ on Tuesday, claims that Bieber’s company is far too similar in name, which it has trademarked.
Hailey Bieber’s troubles get worse…
As per a source close to the 25-year-old model, Hailey and Rhode NYC both obtain trademarks for varying types of business, which means the clothing company may not have grounds to sue her.
In addition, the company claims that Hailey Bieber’s minimalist Rhode logo is parallel to its design.
Hailey attempted to buy the rights to the name from the co-founders four years ago, but they declined.
Rhode NYC issued a statement about the lawsuit on its Instagram page on Tuesday afternoon.
The founders began by introducing themselves as “two female entrepreneurs who met in college, built the RHODE brand, and put years of hard work into our minority co-owned company.”
They stated that they had sued Hailey Bieber and added, ‘We didn’t want to file this lawsuit, but we had to in order to protect our business.’
Lisa T. Simpson, the clothing brand’s lawyer, said in a brief statement that the situation is “unfortunate.”
“We, of course, understand that Hailey wants to use her middle name for her brand, but the law on this is clear: you can’t create this kind of brand confusion just because you want to use your name,” she went on to point out. “What Ms. Bieber is doing is harming a minority co-owned business that two women have painstakingly built into a growing, global brand.”
In the image above, you can see Bieber’s skincare brands Instagram page and below is the fashion line’s account.
Both appear to have similar minimalistic aesthetics in their logo and of course… the same name.
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