Salon owner ‘ready’ for key L’Oréal trademark dispute hearing

A salon owner says she is “ready to fight again” ahead of a crucial hearing in her long-running trademark dispute with global cosmetics firm L’Oréal.

Rebecca Dowdeswell attempted to renew the trademark of her Leicester-based business – nkd – in 2022 but the French firm opposed the move.

L’Oréal has its own trademark on a series of beauty products called Naked, and claims her use of the name nkd would cause “consumer confusion”.

The 49-year-old said she was feeling in a “much stronger position”, now an Intellectual Property Office (IPO) hearing date had been set for the case. It will take place later this year.

The mother of two, from Radcliffe-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire, held the nkd trademark name since 2009, and it expired in 2019.

She said she had a six-month window to renew it but forgot, which she described as a “big mistake”.

“That six-month window ran into the start of Covid and chaos ensued for all businesses – including beauty salons – and I missed the expiry,” she previously told the BBC.

“When I came to re-register the trademark, I was essentially starting from scratch, not renewing an existing one.”

She said L’Oréal objected on the basis it owned the Urban Decay make-up brand, which has a range of eye shadow palettes called Naked.

She added: “There has never been any evidence of consumer confusion. In 15 years of trading, no-one has ever said ‘are you the same brand as Naked by Urban Decay?'”

Ms Dowdeswell told the BBC the matter was due to be decided by the government’s IPO, but that hearing had been postponed.

The IPO blamed the delay on “very significant” caseloads, in part due to Brexit.

It said before Brexit, trademarks could be registered with either the European Union (EU) or the UK, or both.

After Brexit, 1.4 million trademarks that were with the EU transferred over to take effect in the UK.

Speaking to the BBC, Ms Dowdeswell – who has spent more than £30,000 contesting L’Oréal’s opposition – said she had “enjoyed” a temporary break from the proceedings.

“When I came to re-register them post-Covid, L’Oréal logged its objections and I’ve been having to defend myself for the last three years,” Ms Dowdeswell said.

“It’s been really stressful to deal with, but I’ve enjoyed metaphorically putting it away and having a break from it.

“In hindsight, I realised how much of a toll it took on me last year. On me personally with my family, my young children and with the business.

“I am ready to fight again. I think L’Oréal thinks I’m just going to go away – and I’m not.”

In response, a spokesperson for L’Oréal said: “We are wholly committed to resolving any misunderstanding there might have been with Rebecca Dowdeswell.

“From the beginning of our exchanges with her lawyers in 2022, we have communicated an offer that supports her business aspirations whilst respecting our longstanding trademark rights.

“We look forward to resolving this matter in a mutually agreeable way.”

The IPO confirmed a hearing date had been set for 5 November.

It added a decision would usually be expected about nine months later.

Ms Dowdeswell added: “To coin a phrase that L’Oréal knows very well, I’ve often asked myself – ‘is it worth it?'”