Kardashian sisters, Kim, Khloe and Kourtney, will finally be paid the amount they claim is owed to them by their erstwhile beauty partner, following a five-year legal battle.
A California State Appeal Court sided with the sisters earlier this week, ruling they were rightly owed US$11.5m in royalties from Haven Beauty, the licensors of the sisters’ former make-up line Kardashian Beauty.
Haven Beauty, a subsidiary of Hillair Capital, will also have to fork out $2m in post judgement interest and appeal costs, according to Forbes.
In a time before KKW Beauty or Kylie Cosmetics, the sisters began their venture into beauty in 2012, originally licensed by Boldface Licensing + Branding, which was later bought by Hillair.
However, the relationship turned sour in 2016 when Haven accused the trio of breaching their licensing contract by failing to promote the brand’s products, and sued the sisters for some $180m.
The reality TV stars responded with a countersuit, claiming Haven had sold products without their consent or involvement altogether, and said that the licensor had not paid royalties for products sold in their name.
In 2019, a judge ordered Hillair to pay $7.4m and a further $3.2m in interest; the latest decision is a final blow of the gavel, siding with the Kardashians once again.
While the decision is a win for the Kardashian camp, this is not the first time members of arguably the world’s most famous family have been embroiled in a legal battle with their beauty partners.
Both Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian West’s brands were sued by their manufacturer Seed Beauty when they respectively began talks with cosmetics conglomerate Coty over potentially purchasing stakes in the businesses.
Coty went on to buy a 51% majority share in Jenner’s business and currently owns a 20% stake in KKW Beauty.
In June last year, the US contract manufacturer filed for an injunction to block KKW Beauty from revealing trade secrets to Coty and a week later sued Kylie Cosmetics and Kylie Skin’s former owner King Kylie, alleging the company knowingly shared trade secrets with Coty.
