Four days from now, Jeffree Star and Manny Gutierrez are set to launch their highly anticipated collaboration. It marks the first time the two men have synced up to drop a makeup set, which includes a brand-new highlighter and two liquid lipsticks, together. And yet, with less than a week left until the drop, a lawsuit has surfaced from Black Moon Cosmetics threatening to halt the release on April 8.
A copyright and trademark infringement suit was filed yesterday by the McArthur Law Firm, claiming that the packaging of the Jeffree Star Cosmetics x Manny MUA products are a distinct rip-off of Black Moon Cosmetics. According to the complaint, BMC was "the first cosmetic company to use packaging incorporating a mark consisting of holographic crescent moon on a black background to distribute cosmetic products." (It's important to note, however, that a similar moon design dons Gutierrez's Makeup Geek collection.)
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Black Moon Cosmetics alleges that Gutierrez knowingly used a similar design for both of his product launches, supposing that it's not just a case of negligence. Included in the lawsuit are pages of screenshots of Instagram teasers, posted by Star and Gutierrez, with commenters pointing out the similarities. To make things even more interesting, Revelist reported that Black Moon Cosmetics has also included screenshots of a direct message between Gutierrez and the makeup brand account discussing a particular fondness of the Black Moon packaging.
BMC is seeking damages as a result of copyright and trademark infringement, as well as a preliminary and permanent injunction. We don't know what this means for the set April 8 launch date, but we've reached out to both Star and Gutierrez for comment on the lawsuit and will update this post as soon as we know more.
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