Rebecca Dowdeswell has been locked in three-year legal battle with £170bn cosmetics firm over her nkd brand
A small business owner is preparing to face down the cosmetics giant L’Oréal at a tribunal next week over a trademark dispute she says has had a devastating impact on her.
Rebecca Dowdeswell, 49, from Nottinghamshire, has been locked in a three-year legal battle with the French company since it claimed her use of the name nkd for her business would cause “consumer confusion” with its own range of Naked beauty products.
Dowdeswell has been forced to close one of her two nkd salons and has run up legal fees of more than £30,000 fighting the £170bn company, which has instructed top-tier law firm Baker McKenzie.
Before the intellectual property office (IPO) tribunal on Wednesday, she said: “There’s never been any question or any evidence of any consumer confusion. From my perspective, we operate in very different sections of the beauty market. I only have an interest in waxing and hair removal.
