Pro Tip for Candlemakers: Don't Fuck With Jessica Alba

The rough thing about selling feel-good all-natural tree-hugging organic shit is that you’ve really only got so many adjectives to work with. Hence, be careful lest you tread on the trademark toes of another purist, like for instance Jessica Alba and her Honest Company.

TMZ has the cautionary tale of Kiki Rupert, founder of Honest Earth Candles:

Rupert’s been warned by the U.S Patent and Trademark Office she could be in big trouble because she could be creating confusion in the marketplace. Alba’s biz also sells candles.

Rupert claims an Honest Co. lawyer notified her it obtained a trademark back in 2012. The bad news for Rupert is she didn’t file her TM application until last November.

Rupert says she’s invested thousands in her small biz, and a name change could ruin her. We’ve reached out to reps for Alba’s company, but no word back yet.

TMZ’s headline for this item was of course a thing of great and terrible beauty:

The irony is, in January, it was the Honest Company on the receiving end of a cease and desist. Reports the Los Angeles Business Journal:

Honest Co. filed suit at the U.S. Central District Court of California on Monday after it received a cease and desist letter earlier this month from Cosmedicine of Sherman Oaks. The letter claimed that Honest Co.’s Honest face and body lotion was too similar to Cosmedicine’s “Honest Face” tinted moisturizer and demanded that Honest Co. stop operating under its brand name.

Honest Co. responded by taking the dispute to court. The Santa Monica company claimed the two products wouldn’t be confused since they target different consumers with their price points. Honest Co.’s lotion retails for $9.95 while Cosmedicine’s moisturizer sells for $75.