Sephora “Drunk Elephant” caught in up a Trademark infringement case

A trademark infringement suit has been filed by the Green Heart Labs in US District Court on November 4th, claiming that Drunk Elephant Brand of Sephora (online and in stores) is infringing the mark ‘Aha! Moment’. According to the lawsuit, even after the notice was issued to them earlier this year, Sephora has failed to stop selling the brand Drunk Elephant, which Green Heart Labs claims is using the trademark to promote its product.

‘Aha! Moment’ is a trademark owned by the sales and  marketing director Julie Pefferman, at the personal care company. It is skin care product, a body peel made of alpha hydroxyl acid and aloe Vera and is used for “smoothing/ clearing/ anti-aging/ retexturing”.  The plaintiff asserts that the defendant uses the same expression and its trademarked ‘Aha!moment’ product name, thereby confusing the customers regarding the product and “that the wrongful conduct has caused injury to its business, goodwill and property…”.

The Court is yet to determine whether the mark and the expression causes confusion among the consumers or not.