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Founder and CEO Anastasia Soare’s book, “Raising Brows: My Story of Building a Billion-Dollar Beauty Empire” intentionally violates Petunia Products Inc.’s trademarks, “Raising Brows,” “Billion Dollar Beauty” and “Billion Dollar Brows,” according to the complaint filed by Petunia Products Inc.—which does business as Billion Dollar Beauty—on Monday in the US District Court for the Central District of California.
Searching “Raising Brows” on Google now returns Anastasia Beverly Hills’ website and Soare’s book at the top results, instead of PPI’s brand, according to the complaint. The marketing efforts for the book Raising Brows has caused customer confusion, PPI said.
Anastasia Beverly Hills has been aware of PPI for roughly two decades, the complaint said. Soare’s daughter, the president of the company, discussed the possibility of retailing PPI’s “Brow Boost” eyebrow conditioning treatment product in 2005, the complaint said. The deal fell through after CEO Anastasia Soare said she viewed PPI’s brand as a “threat to her business” and saw them “as competitors, operating in the same industry.”
PPI’s complaint also names Oprah Winfrey and her daily magazine Oprah Daily LLC, Penguin Random House LLC, and Ulta Beauty Inc. as defendants contributorily liable for infringement for marketing Soare’s book.
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By Aruni Soni
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