February 2019 was a busy month for Kim Kardashian. In between ranting about Fashion Nova knocking off her Mugler dress and misquoting the City Girls to defend scorned sister Khloé Kardashian, Kanye West's wife decided to take legal action against Missguided.
Earlier this year, TMZ reported the reality TV star filed a lawsuit against the fast-fashion retailer for using her name and image without permission to advertise their own "knock-off" designs. According to TMZ, her lawsuit includes a side-by-side of her own Instagram post next to one from Missguided as evidence. Kardashian also alleges that Missguided often tags her in the label's Instagram photos, sometimes even using photos of her on their feed. She is asking for an injunction to keep Missguided from using her photos and $10 million in damages.
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On Thursday, the reality star won $2.7 in damages, the BBC reported. Missguided USA is also banned from using Kardashian's "trademarks in connection with the sale, marketing or distribution of its products." In a statement to the BBC, Missguided said: "We note the view of the California Court. The legal process has not yet reached a conclusion."
When Kardashian accused Missguided earlier this year, she shared an old photo and seemed to jokingly acknowledge how fast retailers recreate her looks. "Going through old fitting pics & found this gold look that Kanye made for me for my Miami trip last summer," she wrote. "P.S. fast fashion brands, can you please wait until I wear this in real life before you knock it off?"
In a now-deleted post, two hours after Kardashian posted her Instagram, Missguided posted their version of the dress. "The devil works hard but Missguided works harder @KimKardashian," the brand wrote. "You've only got a few days before this drops online."
As The Fashion Law noted, “Would Kris Jenner watch quietly if someone was using her daughters’ images to sell something, and they weren’t getting a cut?” That answer is almost certainly no — not only because Jenner is a world-class manager but because such unauthorized commercial uses of a star’s image likely runs afoul of right of publicity law. For context, consider that Rihanna won her lawsuit against Topshop in 2013, successfully banning the retailer from selling t-shirts featuring her likeness.