Frustrations as L’Oréal ‘holds hands up’ in fight

11TH HOUR CHANGE IN DAVID v GOLIATH ROW WITH BUSINESS OWNER

- By RUCSANDRA MOLDOVEANU

COSMETICS giant LOréal has “held its hands up” and a local business owner will be allowed to use the brand names she wishes as a David v Goliath trademark battle nears its end.

Rebecca Dowdeswell, from Radcliffe, opened her waxing business called nkd in 2009 with two salons — one in Nottingham and one in Leicester.

Her business has taken a big hit, which included the closure of the Nottingham salon on Pelham Street, after a fight started in September 2022, when Ms Dowdeswell was taken to court by the beauty giant, which opposed her attempts to renew her trademark.

This is due to Urban Decay, a LOréal brand, having a range of eye-shadow called NAKED, with the French brand claiming Ms Dowdeswell’s use of the name nkd would cause “consumer confusion” despite the two being spelt and pronounced differently.

The legal battle is due to culminate on November 5, when the two parties will resolve their dispute at a tribunal hearing overseen by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO).

‘A deadline was set by the court for the submission of skeleton arguments - which outline the main arguments that will be brought forward by each party during the hearing - as today.

However, yesterday, L’Oréal indicated to the tribunal that it had undergone a rethink of its opposition and is cutting down the scope of its objection “massively”.