The beauty world got a jolt this week when Molly Sims’ YISE Beauty publicly called out Bobbi Brown’s Jones Road Beauty over a new product launch named WIDE AWAKE. Sims’ brand has been selling its Wide Awake Brightening Eye Cream since 2024, and she alleged that Jones Road’s newly launched under-eye concealer not only used the same name, but featured marketing that felt “a little too close to home.”

The dispute quickly became a lesson in the difference between trademark clearance and marketplace perception. While Jones Road stated that a trademark search did not reveal ownership of the name, the company nevertheless acknowledged the issue and announced it would rename the product. Bobbi Brown publicly apologized, saying the duplication was unintentional.

The takeaway? Even when a name appears legally available, brand owners should consider not only trademark records, but also existing products, consumer recognition, and the optics of adopting a competitor’s established branding. In the beauty industry, being “wide awake” to marketplace realities may be just as important as passing a trademark search.