Seed Beauty sues Coty and King Kylie over Kylie Cosmetics trade secrets

By Becky Bargh | Published: 1-Jul-2020

The beauty brand of Kylie Jenner is being accused of sharing trade secrets with the conglomerate, days after KKW Beauty was slapped with a similar lawsuit

Seed Beauty, the manufacturer of Kylie Jenner’s beauty brand, Kylie Cosmetics, has filed a new lawsuit against Coty, the majority stakeholder of the brand, and its previous owner King Kylie.

The civil lawsuit, lodged yesterday at California’s Superior Court, US, alleges that King Kylie knowingly shared trade secrets from the beauty manufacturer with the CoverGirl owner.

While the secrets are said not to be specified, the complaint reportedly disclosed that the brand shared information on Seed’s product formulations and its core operations.

Jenner sold a 51% stake of her beauty brand to Coty in a US$600m deal that closed at the end of January.

During the negotiations of the sale, Seed Beauty is said to have asked the brand not to share sensitive information with Coty in order to boost its position in the market, but reports claim it has failed to provide sufficient assurance that it would not.

This is the second time a member of the Kardashian-Jenner clan has found themselves in hot water with the beauty manufacturer in the last week.

Reports surfaced on 23 June that Seed Beauty had also filed a lawsuit against Jenner’s older sister Kim Kardashian West, and the owner of rival beauty brand KKW Beauty.

The filing is said to be asking for an injunction to block KKW Beauty from revealing trade secrets to Coty, which the conglomerate bought a 20% stake in for $200m on Monday.

Seed Beauty and Coty have been contacted for comment.

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