Kim Kardashian has settled her lawsuit against the creator of the vampire facial, Dr. Charles Runels.
According to court documents obtained by The Blast on Tuesday, Runels has agreed to an injunction that prevents him from using Kardashian's name and likeness to sell his product.
In December 2019, Kardashian filed a lawsuit against Runels for using her name to promote his "vampire facials" and specifically "copyright infringement, infringement of registered mark, false association, violation of the right of publicity and California common law trademark infringement."
Although she admits to getting a "vampire facial" seven years ago, she claims that she never agreed to be used as one of Runels' promotional tools. Kim and her legal team felt like Runels developed a scheme to "misappropriate Ms. Kardashian’s hard-earned popularity" by filling his website with pictures of her. In fact, Kardashian alleges that Runels demanded monetary compensation when she asked him to remove the photos.
"When Ms. Kardashian reached out to Runels and his trademark attorney to demand that he cease using her name and likeness without her consent, he not only refused to take down the pictures of her and references to her; he had the temerity to demand that she pay him," the lawsuit reads.
Now that the court has barred him from continuing to promote his "vampire facials" through Kardashian, Runels must completely disassociate himself and his product from Kardashian. If he refuses, she can come for his financial jugular via another lawsuit.
