Kim Kardashian sued for $100 million for alleged breach of contract over her Kimoji app
Looks like psoriasis isn’t the only thing that Kim Kardashian is fighting.
Kim Kardashian is no stranger to app creation. In 2014, she released the “Kim Kardashian: Hollywood” game, which may have grossed $200 million in annual revenue, according to TechCrunch. She then launched her own subscription app for $2.99, which gave customers an exclusive peek into her life.
One of her most successful apps is Kimoji. Launched towards the end of 2015, Kimoji gives users access to over 250 Kim-inspired emojis and stickers, including her famous butt, her equally famous curves, a crying Kim face, and even a middle finger emoji. The app was the top-grossing entertainment app on Apple’s App Store within a day of its release, reports MarketWatch.
One man, however, says that he was swindled by Kim and is demanding his pound of flesh – 100 million of them, to be exact.
Developer David Liebenshon is suing the reality star for $100 million for alleged fraud, breach of contract, and lost profits. According to TMZ, Liebensohn and his partners caught the beauty mogul’s attention with their anti-cyberbullying app, CensorOut.
“She stole my life’s work.”
PageSix reveals that North’s mom talked said she would be “really proud” to be a spokeswoman against cyberbullying but making some money while doing it wouldn’t hurt either. “If you can help people and make a [expletive] of money, I mean, why not?” said the KKW Beauty creator.
Kim reportedly agreed to promote CensorOut for 40% of the profits but took the app to Instagram instead, effectively removing Liebensohn and his partners from the picture.
Liebensohn claims he also designed and named the Kimoji app. TMZ reveals that Liebensohn and his team entered into an agreement with Kanye’s wife in 2014, where they would get 60% of the app’s profits. The developer named the app but agreed for Kim to register the trademark to keep things simple, says Daily Mail.
“SHE IS A BULLY.”
During the process of filing for a trademark, Liebensohn claims that Kim informed him that she was backing out of their deal because one of his partners had shared her personal information. The developer says that this was just a ploy to get out of their agreement because she already knew about the sharing of her personal info.
“She is a bully,” Liebensohn told PageSix. “She stole my life’s work. No one should have to go through what I have in the past four and a half years since I met her.”
Kim Kardashian’s lawyer, Marty Singer, called the lawsuit “ridiculous” and said that it was “without merit”. “We sued this guy first because they violated Kim’s rights by using her name to promote their app, which was not unique. There were six other apps that did the same thing,” said Singer.
Singer believes that the case should have ended when Liebensohn’s partners signed a settlement agreement, which the developer says he never signed. According to Nylon, the lawyer tried to settle the case earlier this year when he offered Liebensohn $150,000 and 5% of future profits but he turned down the offer.
“Unfortunately, all effort to resolve this case have failed. Along with a team of Oklahoma lawyers, we will clarify the real creator of Kimojis,” said Liebensohn’s lawyer, Robert Hantman, after he revealed his intention to file suit in the coming week.
WHEN KIM GAVE OFF THE WRONG VIBES
This isn’t the first time that the Kimoji app has landed the reality star in trouble.
Mobile marketing company Vibes media sued the ‘KUWTK’ star last year for allegedly stealing their logo. In court documents obtained by The Blast, Vibes Media filed a trademark infringement lawsuit over the Kimoji Vibes perfume, claiming that the perfume “comes in a bottle that is a close facsimile of the Registered Vibes Logo”.
The marketing company’s logo, which was registered in 2012, comprises of a blue speech bubble with the word “vibes” written in lowercase. On the other hand, the Kimoji Vibes perfume bottle is modeled after the vibes emoji found in the app – a black speech bubble with the word “vibes” written across it in white uppercase with a slight penumbra.
The Vibes infringement lawsuit was settled out of court. As this seems to be the norm for the Kardashian, it is highly likely that the Liebensohn suit will follow the same route.
