Luxury lash brand Lashify is taking a bold stand against foreign knockoffs. The company’s Chinese entity, Lashify Shanghai, filed a lawsuit in Qingdao, China, against Qingdao Hollyren Cosmetics Co., Ltd. (Hollyren), a manufacturer of eyelash products, to protect Lashify’s intellectual property and to stop Hollyren’s unauthorized reproductions of Lashify’s award-winning DIY lash extension products including its proprietary application wand. The lawsuit marks the first time that an American beauty company has pursued such action within the Chinese legal system.
The system components include Gossamer® lashes and a unique application tool called the Fuse Control Wand™. “Hollyren is selling Lashify’s patented wand to unsuspecting American companies,” says Lashify founder and CEO Sahara Lotti. “We are filing this lawsuit not only to stop Hollyren from unlawfully using our creation, but to alert other companies that doing business with Hollyren is not worth the jeopardy it puts you in.”
Lotti, represented by Yinke Law Firm, is confident that Lashify will successfully defend its unique invention. “This is a direct knockoff of what I created,” she says. “I take intellectual property rights very seriously.”
That’s why the lawsuit is being filed in China, where Lashify holds a patent for the Fuse Control Wand™. “From the early days, I knew this was a groundbreaking product, so I took legal steps to secure the appropriate patents and trademarks—both in the United States and elsewhere,” Lotti says. “This was necessary to protect Lashify from unauthorized reproductions and counterfeits.”
Dean Factor, Lashify Chief Strategy Officer and an early investor in Lashify—as well as the founder of Smashbox and the grandson of makeup legend Max Factor—testifies to Lotti’s revolutionary concept. “My immediate interest in Lashify was based on the groundbreaking innovation and technology in the products,” he says. “Sahara is an innovative powerhouse and there hadn’t been anything particularly innovative in the lash business until she invented the Lashify system. Protecting innovations, including those by remarkable female entrepreneurs like Sahara, encourages further innovations, improvements, and positive disruptions in the industry. It benefits consumers by bringing new solutions and recognizes that hard work and ingenuity is important to our society as a whole.”
For Lotti, the lawsuit is about protecting not only her company, but also the spirit of innovation within the beauty industry. “This industry thrives and grows only within a climate that inspires and nurtures innovation in beauty,” she says. “People will take fewer risks to pursue their ideas if they believe it’s only a matter of time before a big company swoops in and takes it. This is something that needs to be addressed, and it’s long overdue.”
The Lashify luxury lash extension system is available at lashify.com. Since its debut in 2017, it has been used by top-tier makeup artists on their celebrity clients—most recently at this year’s Golden Globe Awards and Grammy Awards. It has also received multiple beauty awards, including honors from Glamour, The Knot, and Shape.
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