Photo Credit: https://www.thefashionlaw.com
Becca Cosmetics (Becca) sent Morphe, a brand known for their makeup brushes, a cease and desist letter regarding their collection with YouTube vlogger, Jaclyn Hill. The letter stated that Becca felt the packaging for Morphe’s new “Vault” eyeshadow palette collaboration with Hill was a blatant copy of packaging that Becca had released two years before with their own collaboration with Hill, “Champagne Pop.”
Additionally, Becca alleged Morphe/Hill’s packaging infringes and “constitutes ‘false designation of origin, palming off and trade dress infringement as well as tortious interference with [an existing] agreement” Hill currently has with Becca.
Morphe has since filed suit in a California court, after Becca made claims over common law trade dress rights in design of the packaging for their “Champagne Pop” palette. The Morphe packaging design consists of “a white outer box with Ms. Hill’s signature in the center of the package as part of the ‘Morphe x Jaclyn Hill’ logo against a silver background that explodes from the center into confetti-like particles flecked with colored accent shapes that correspond to the 40 eyeshadow shades within the collection.” Morphe argues that the Becca packaging is known by consumers to be used exclusively with only Becca, and such design has been used by Jouer, Chanel, BareMinerals, and Yves Saint Laurent.
Morphe has asked the court to declare that Becca does not have any trade dress rights in the design of “Champagne Pop” palette, or any trade dress rights with priority over those of Morphe, and even if any rights exist, Morphe has not infringed on such rights.
Article by: Carissa Chow