'RHONYC' News: Co-Stars Bethenny Frankel And Sonja Morgan In Legal Battle Over Alcohol Line
The latest drama between two cast members of the Bravo reality TV series "Real Housewives of New York City" is over alcohol.
Reality TV personality and "RHONYC" star Bethenny Frankel is reportedly taking legal action to protect her Skinnygirl line of cocktails from her "Real Housewives of New York City" co-star, Sonja Morgan, who has just previewed her own line of alcoholic beverages, Tipsy Girl.
The name of Morgan's new liquor line appears to be too close to that of Frankel's Skinnygirl for the reality star's comfort and documents obtained by ET prove that last month, Frankel's company filed to trademark the name "Tipsygirl," which isn't exactly "Tipsy Girl" but close enough to elicit outrage from Morgan and her team.
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Frankel's move came several months after Morgan's business partner, Peter Guimaraes, filed their own trademark for the name "Tipsy Girl." According to Page Six, Guimaraes says that Frankel's filing of a trademark for "Tipsygirl" is an "underhanded move." "[Frankel] is threatened by this Tipsy Girl brand, which is not a copycat nor competition for Skinnygirl," Guimaraes reportedly said. "We are not advocating that you will lose weight with our product," he pointed out.
In response to Guimaraes' statements, a spokesperson for 45-year-old Frankel said, "We always focus on protecting Bethenny Frankel's Skinnygirl intellectual property to mitigate any confusion in the marketplace."
This latest bit of "RHONYC" tension adds to the contract fiasco of November, in which Frankel responded to rumors that her "Real Housewives" co-stars Ramona Singer and LuAnn de Lesseps, as well as Morgan, were in talks to renegotiate their "RHONYC" contracts. In 2014, Frankel was rumored to have acquired a $1 million deal for the show.
She later told ET, "Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered and negotiation is definitely an art form." She added, "I would venture to guess that most these women are not willing to walk away, so it's all a useless exercise in nothing."
Morgan and Guimaraes will distribute Tipsy Girl prosecco before expanding their beverage line to include vodka, wine, and tequila.
