Check out what is clicking on FoxBusiness.com.
Nestle’s supplement company Persona Nutrition, which recently selected talk show host Kelly Ripa as its spokesperson, is being sued by make-up artist Sona Gasparian for stealing the name of her company – and even her customers.
Gasparian says she started beauty company Persona Cosmetics five years ago only to see Nestle launch a range of nutritional supplements under the name Persona Nutrition in 2018.
While Gasparian’s company sells eye shadows, lipsticks, blushes and brushes, including in Ulta beauty stores, she claims Nestle’s company is a blatant copycat that has already caused confusion among customers.
NESTLE, UNDER FIRE OVER UNHEALTHY PRODUCTS, ARE WORKING ON A NEW STRATEGY
According to the lawsuit in the Las Angeles State Court, numerous consumers emailed Gasparian’s cosmetic company to cancel their Persona Nutrition subscriptions, including one who said it gave her an “upset stomach” and another who said it gave her an “upset stomach”. who was instructed not to take anything other than prenatal vitamins because she was pregnant.
Another supplement customer allegedly complained to Gasparian’s beauty company that he received the supplements despite canceling his subscription to later apologize to Persona Cosmetics because “the people I was looking for have a similar company name.”
Nestle’s supplement company Persona Nutrition, which recently selected talk show host Kelly Ripa as its spokesperson, is being sued by make-up artist Sona Gasparian for stealing the name of her company – and even her customers.
The lawsuit also alleges that Ripa representatives use a nearly identical font and logo style, despite Nestle’s filings with the US Patent and Trademark Office being denied five times because of “confusion” with Gasparian’s company.
Ripa, who turned 50 last year, says Persona Nutrition is one of the beauty secrets for her “camera-ready skin,” the complaint read.
The situation recently reached a boiling point when Nestle used the same social media influencer – Stella Simona – to sell their products and partner with companies that are also sold in Ulta Beauty stores, the complaint read.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT FOX BUSINESS
It also complained that Nestle was snapping up URLs that were confusingly similar to Gasparian’s company, including “personacosmetics.com”, “personamakeup.com” and “personaskin.com”.
These URLs have nothing to do with Nestle’s nutritional supplements, the complaint said, and instead are intended to “mislead” consumers from Persona Nutrition in a “bare and unscrupulous attempt to steal Gasparian’s customers”, the complaint said.
“There’s nothing random about what Nestle has done,” said Michael Goldberg, attorney for Pryor Cashman’s Persona Cosmetics. “It blurred the line and used personas as a domain name to appropriate what the US Patent Office had rejected.”
“Nestle could have chosen any name. It knew it wasn’t the first to use Persona.”
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
Nestle did not immediately respond to a comment. It has three pending applications to the USPTO for “limited rights” to the Persona logo, according to the complaint.
