Less than a week after launching her new skincare line, Rhode, Hailey Bieber is being sued for alleged trademark infringement. Purna Khatau and Phoebe Vickers, co-founders of the fashion brand Rhode, are suing the model and claiming that her notoriety will cause her brand to overshadow theirs. According to the lawsuit, Bieber, whose middle name is Rhode, is using similar marketing tactics and taglines on social media as the fashion brand. In the complaint, the co-founders said, “Far from dispelling confusion, Bieber appears intent on exacerbating it, adopting taglines like ‘shop rhode’ and ‘on the rhode’ that Rhode [the clothing line] itself has been using for years.” The Wall Street Journal reported that the suit claims Bieber’s representatives attempted to buy the Rhode trademark for clothing in 2018, an offer that Khatau and Vickers turned down.
