L'Oréal marches skincare brand to court
Cosmetics company L’Oréal accused skincare brand Drunk Elephant of infringing a patent earlier this week, in a lawsuit filed in Texas.
US skincare brand Drunk Elephant has allegedly infringed US patent number 7,179,841, called “Stabilised ascorbic acid compositions and methods therefor”, through the sale of a serum.
The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday, November 14 at the US District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division.
Drunk Elephant sells its products, including the allegedly infringing C-Firma Day Serum, through its website and through retailers such as Sephora.
The serum is a “super-potent vitamin C day serum packed with a powerful antioxidant complex, essential nutrients, and fruit enzymes”, according to Drunk Elephant’s website.
It goes on to list ingredients, including an antioxidant complex of 15% l-ascorbic acid, 0.5% ferulic acid and 1% vitamin E.
L’Oréal claimed that it made Drunk Elephant aware of its infringement in September last year, but that the activity has continued.
The suit also claimed induced infringement: “The C-Firma product(s) can only be used in a manner that infringes the ‘841 patent, and on information and belief, have been used by Drunk Elephant’s customers in a manner that directly infringes one or more claims of the ‘841 patent.”
Along with a permanent injunction, L’Oréal is seeking damages consisting of interest, costs, and an accounting of all infringing sales.
This isn’t the first time Drunk Elephant has faced claims of IP infringement—in November 2016, natural skincare manufacturer Green Heart Labs took cosmetics chain Sephora and Drunk Elephant to court over trademark infringement.
The case was voluntarily dismissed by Green Heart in December 2016.
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