Legal victory allows Hailey Bieber to continue promoting her skincare company, which is being sued by brand with the same name for trademark infringement

• A company with the same name as Hailey Bieber's company is suing her for trademark infringement.
• Bieber was granted permission by a federal court to continue promoting her Rhode skincare line.

A federal judge in New York on Friday ruled that Hailey Bieber can continue promoting her beauty brand Rhode for the time being following a trademark infringement claim by a clothing company with the same name.

Rhode, a clothing brand, filed a legal memorandum in June that sought a preliminary injunction against her.

Rhode's co-founders, Purna Khatau and Phoebe Vickers, claimed that Bieber's brand creates "consumer confusion" and requested that Bieber's line change its name.

The name for the skincare line comes from Bieber's middle name, Rhode.

US District Judge Lorna G. Schofield denied the injunction bid brought by the Rhode clothing line on Friday, according to court records, despite them sending an emergency letter alerting the court that Bieber planned to release a documentary about her brand titled, "The Making of Rhode."

According to the original complaint filed by the Rhode clothing line, Bieber's acting counsel contacted the clothing line in 2018, before Bieber launched her skin-care line, with an offer to buy their trademark registration.

"The Rhode brand is their most important asset. But Ms. Bieber, who surely could leverage her fame into success with a differently-branded beauty line, apparently does not care that two other women entrepreneurs have been using the Rhode brand name for years," according to the complaint.

Rhode's complaint cited an interview Bieber did with Forbes, in which Bieber said, "world of media that likes to perpetuate women against women," and claimed that her massive fame would kill their business.

"But the reality is that the 'world of media' Ms. Bieber describes is at her disposal," Rhode said in the complaint. "And she has chosen to use it to squash a woman and minority co-founded brand that simply cannot compete with her immense fame and following."

A spokesperson for the clothing line said in a statement to Law360 on Friday that the company spent years building the brand.

"'Rhode' is our name and brand, we built it, and federal, and state laws protect it," the spokesperson told the outlet. "We ask Hailey to achieve her goals without using the brand name we have spent the last nine years building."