Miss Beverly Hills wins battle to uphold cosmetics name
upheld its legal battle to branding rights for the Miss Beverly
Hills name, a brand that has been used to market cosmetics,
fragrances and spa products.
In a unanimous verdict given by courts in Los Angeles, the company said that the jury returned a a verdict to uphold its branding and marketing rights in a court battle pitched against the company's former CEO, Conrad Loretto.
Gennady Levchenko, chairman of Miss Beverly Hills, Inc., and his law firm Shaub & Williams LLP, said that the verdict against Loretto was entered at the end of November 2006.
The company said that it had filed the suit against Loretto after he applied for rights to the company trademark 'Miss Beverly Hills' for cosmetics products within a week of his termination from the company in January 2005.
At this stage the company said that it had already made a decision to expand into the cosmetics field, and that Loretto plans conflicted with those of the company.
The court decision included an order for Loretto to return 500,000 of company shares he received whilst he was still the CEO at the company because he had breached his contract.
The brand name is also used to market other related areas including fashion, boutique and spa related products, in both a private label and licensing capacity on an international basis.
The company estimates that to date approximately $750,000 has been spent to market and develop the brand name, with the recent acquisition of the Five Star Productions company for $400,000, adding further to its overall value.
In June last year Miss Beverly Hills was floated on the New York stock exchange, under the symbol MBVH.
