Skinnygirl fight! Bethenny Frankel is 'suing rival company for copying her brand to sell weight loss tea'

By Rachel Mcgrath For Dailymail.com

Published: 20:07 EST, 21 October 2015 | Updated: 12:44 EST, 22 October 2015

Bethenny Frankel has filed suit against a couple she claims is trading off her fame by using the words Skinny Girl to sell weight loss tea.

Frankel's company SG Marks is suing Travis and Stacey Labarge for 'ripping off' the Skinnygirl brand she created, according to TMZ Wednesday.

The Real Housewives Of New York star, 44, is asking a judge to stop the Labarges from using the name and to award her monetary damages as well.

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On the war path: Bethenny Frankel founded Skinnygirl Cocktails in 2011 and it's reported Wednesday she's suing a couple who are using the name Skinny Girl to sell weight loss tea. She's pictured in September

On the war path: Bethenny Frankel founded Skinnygirl Cocktails in 2011 and it's reported Wednesday she's suing a couple who are using the name Skinny Girl to sell weight loss tea. She's pictured in September

Frankel started using SkinnyGirl in 2009 when she included it in the titles of two books she wrote that offered tips to women on how to stay slim.

In 2011, after finding fame on Bravo's reality series, she launched her own brand of Skinnygirl Cocktails which was so successful she ultimately sold it for $100 million.

The lawsuit claims, according to TMZ, that it was Frankel's celebrity that made Skinnygirl a multi-million dollar operation and the Skinny Girl Tea retailers are piggy-backing off her fame.

High profile: Frankel, 44, seen Wednesday in New York, found fame on Bravo's Real Housewives Of New York and the lawsuit claims Travis and Stacey Labarge are trading off her celebrity to sell their tea products

High profile: Frankel, 44, seen Wednesday in New York, found fame on Bravo's Real Housewives Of New York and the lawsuit claims Travis and Stacey Labarge are trading off her celebrity to sell their tea products

TMZ reported it had contacted Travis Labarge who claimed it's a total coincidence that his products and Fankel's brand have identical names.

Labrge told the website that he and Stacey 'generated their product name based on Google keywords for weight loss tea.' 

He said they were not aware of the existence of Frankel's Skinnygirl brand.

Created the name: The Bravo reality star and businesswoman started using the moniker Skinnygirl back in 2009 when she published books on how to stay slim. She also published a novel in 2012 called Skinnydipping

Created the name: The Bravo reality star and businesswoman started using the moniker Skinnygirl back in 2009 when she published books on how to stay slim. She also published a novel in 2012 called Skinnydipping

 

 

 

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