- The company that powers Kim Kardashian West and Kylie Jenner’s makeup lines, Seed Beauty, says its competitor, Coty, stole confidential business secrets.
- Coty, the struggling conglomerate behind brands like Covergirl and Sally Hansen, invested earlier this year in Kylie Cosmetics and just signed another deal with Kardashian West.
- Seed says the King Kylie deal was simply “a subterfuge” to learn his “confidential business methodologies.”
- Representatives for Coty and Kylie Jenner did not respond to requests for comment.
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Seed Beauty, the company behind the successful cosmetics lines of Kim Kardashian West and Kylie Jenner, accused their competitor, Coty, of stealing trade secrets when they invested in King Kylie earlier this year.
Now, as Coty struggles to buy a stake in the Kardashian-West line that will make her a billionaire, Seed wants the court to step in and protect her “secret sauce.”
“Out of deep respect for Kylie Jenner, Kim Kardashian, and the highly successful businesses Seed created with them, Seed attempted to resolve this dispute privately and repeatedly sought assurances regarding Seed’s leak of King Kylie’s proprietary information to Coty,” he said. Seed. in the partially redacted complaint filed Tuesday in Los Angeles superior court.
“Coty and King Kylie consistently refused to provide guarantees,” Seed said, claiming that the investment “really was a subterfuge to learning about Seed’s confidential business methodologies.”
Seed is asking the court for another court order like the one he received in early June, preventing Kardashian West from sharing trade secrets in his dealings with Coty.
“This action is to stop Coty’s theft of Seed’s pioneering and patented first digital business model that has revolutionized the cosmetic industry,” said Seed.
Coty, who has not yet formally responded to the lawsuit, declined to comment. Jenner’s representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The first court hearing is scheduled for October.
Jenner’s makeup line has been a commercial boon for Coty, who also has brands like Sally Hansen and Covergirl among her portfolio. According to experts, her deal with Kardashian West may help her continue to evolve as legacy brands struggle and her stock price stutters.
“The partnership is consistent with COTY’s goals of using social media-driven brands to expand consumer reach given Kim Kardashian West’s appeal to Generation X and older millennials and exposure to Kim’s half-sister, Kylie. Jenner has Generation Z and the younger millennials. ” Andrea Teixeira, an analyst at JPMorgan, told clients this week.
“However, we do not believe that the transaction will resolve the lack of commitment to Covergirl, MaxFactor, Rimmel or Sally Hansen’s legacy brands, because the endorsement of Kylie Beauty or KKW Beauty is not included, at least at this time.”
However, Jenner’s deal with the company has not been without its other drama. Forbes claimed in May that Jenner and his associates falsified financial records of the deal and removed Jenner from his billionaire’s list. Jenner has disputed the Forbes reports.
Read Seed’s full complaint below:
