Is this a trademark success for Hailey Bieber’s skincare brand?

Introduction

Hailey Bieber’s skincare brand, Rhode Skin, was launched in June 2022. Subsequently after this launch, a fashion label also branded as Rhode which was founded by Purna Khatu and Phoebe Vickers in 2014, filed a trademark lawsuit against Hailey Bieber’s skincare brand stating that Bieber’s brand was using their trademark without authorisation. Purna Khatu and Phoebe Vickers expressed their opinion by stating that they filed this application for the purposes of protecting their business.

In the claimant’s application a preliminary injunction was requested.  Nevertheless, the judge decided to vote in favour of Hailey Bieber. The reason behind the judge’s decision was because the company submitted an emergency letter motion that was expressing Hailey Bieber’s wish to publish her documentary titled, ‘the making of Rhode’, which was then published that day. This documentary was also filed to the court for review. Subsequently after this, the judge dismissed the preliminary injunction.

What does this mean?

This does not mean that Hailey Bieber ultimately won the lawsuit, this decision merely meant that while the case continued Bieber was still permitted to continue marketing her skincare brand and retain the same brand name.

If you would like to discuss protection of your brand, please get in touch with the Trademarkroom team today.