A Vancouver store owner is accusing Khloe Kardashian's clothing company Good American of copying a slogan that she said she’s been using for years.
Tamara Komuniecki runs the Vancouver boutique Delish General Store, selling tees, sweaters and baby onesies emblazoned with slogan: “Strong as a Mother.”
While she notes the phrase is trademarked in Canada but not in the United States, she was still dismayed when she saw the phrase pop up stateside on Friday.
Last week, her slogan “Strong as a Mother” also showed up on the website and Instagram account of a mom-themed apparel company co-owned by reality star Khloe Kardashian.
“I just really think it’s dirty pool because they have such a big budget [and] such a big team. For them to kind of bulldoze over the little people and take it for their own is absolutely not right,” she told CTV News Vancouver.
“I don't want to get a lawyer involved. I don't want to face their legal team because they have money I will never have to be able to defend themselves,” the journalist-turned-entrepreneur added.
Komuniecki claims Kardashian’s company is perpetuating copyright infringement. She argues that because of the Kardashian’s estimated net worth of approximately US$40 million, that her team should have had the resources to come up with another slogan.
For now, she hopes the reality star eventually removes any apparel bearing slogan.
McMillan LLP lawyer Ryan Black told CTV News Vancouver that “intellectual property issues are kind of territorial.”
“We do have treaties that go across different countries that allow a party in one country to enforce against a party in another country,” he said. “You can have a very strong Canadian trademark that will prevent anybody from trading on your brand in Canada, but it may not be of any value in the United States or India or China or other place."
“It's tough to tell who's really right and it's a big fight to get there," said Black. Komuniecki lamented that, "I don't think I have a lot of options, I don't think I have legal recourse and I wouldn't even go down that avenue if I did.”
CTV News Vancouver reached out to Good American for comment on this story, but the company hasn’t responded.
FANS HAVE CRITICIZED KARDASHIAN ON INSTAGRAM
An Instagram account associated with Delish General Store even commented on Kardashian’s company page.
“Wow I love that first tee. I love it so much I actually hold the trademark on the expression on t-shirts,” the comment read. “Ours is the original, hope people can see our authentic, original small business and support us. Strong mamas support each other, not step in on each other’s hustle…”
But that comment was just one of dozens.
Droves of Komuniecki’s supporters also took to social media to voice their disappointment. One commenter on Kardashian’s post wrote, “this is a rip off of a Vancouver company,” with another writing, “sorry this originated in Canada first. It’s time you ladies be original and think of your own stuff.”
Another person praised Komuniecki saying, “this is already branded in Canada by a very talented and hard-working lady from Vancouver.”
This isn’t the first time the Vancouver store owner has dealt with copycats.
But other cases have involved smaller creators who she managed to convince to stop selling their similar items. “So many of those women say, ‘You know what? Okay, I’ll back off. I’ll do something else,’” she said.
Further complicating the issue is that Black said a different American company owns the U.S. trademark on a similar slogan. And since it does, it is potential grounds for that company to go after Komuniecki if she ever sells her products in the states.
It should be noted that the phrase “Strong as a Mother” wasn’t Komuniecki’s original idea either.
On her store’s website, a post recounts how, several years ago, Komuniecki saw an image on Instagram of a “radiant young woman” wearing a T-shirt with the phrase ‘strong as a mother’ on her chest.
“[She] was pleased that it was created by a real person and was not a brand or product invented by a huge company, following a focus group,” the post read, “Tamara purchased the rights to produce them in Vancouver.”
The company’s post then describes how Komuniecki took that phrase to build up her company to where it is today. But after the whole ordeal, Komuniecki said she’s somewhat grateful.
“I can certainly get the word out about my brand. It's caught people's interest,” she said. “Behind my brand is a mom who's spent over two years and hours and hours and hours, into the wee hours of the morning at the warehouse pulling orders.”
