Bethenny Frankel in Legal Battle With 'RHONY' Co-Star Sonja Morgan Over Skinnygirl Cocktail Line
The celebrity alcohol business is no laughing matter.
Bethenny Frankel appears to be taking steps to protect her popular line of Skinnygirl cocktails from her Real Housewives of New York co-star, Sonja Morgan, who in November previewed her own spirits, similarly named Tipsy Girl.
Documents obtained by ET show that in November, months after Morgan's business partner Peter Guimaraes trademarked the Tipsy Girl name, Frankel's company filed their own trademark, "Tipsygirl," spelled as one word.
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Guimaraes calls the trademark an "underhanded move," according to Page Six. "[Frankel] is threatened by this Tipsy Girl brand, which is not a copycat nor competition for Skinnygirl. We are not advocating that you will lose weight with our product."
Guimaraes and Morgan plan to distribute Tipsy Girl prosecco publicly before expanding to vodka, tequila and wine.
In a response to Guimaraes' claims, said a spokesperson for Frankel, reports Page Six, "We always focus on protecting Bethenny Frankel's Skinnygirl intellectual property to mitigate any confusion in the marketplace."
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Things certainly appear to be getting tense for the two parties (you figure they'd just crack open a bottle of either of their respective liquor brands and squash the beef), and certainly have not cooled down since November, when Frankel responded to rumors that Morgan, along with RHONY co-stars LuAnn de Lesseps, and Ramona Singer were renegotiating their contracts to be paid more money, a year after Frankel reportedly landed a $1 million deal.
"Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered and negotiation is definitely an art form," Frankel told ET bluntly. "I would venture to guess that most these women are not willing to walk away, so it's all a useless exercise in nothing."
Daaaaang!
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