Is Kylie Jenner Taking Legal Action Over Her ‘Rise And Shine’ Catchphrase?

As we move full speed ahead to the end of 2019, it’s hard to keep track of time. I barely remember what I ate for dinner last night (according to the crumbs in my bed, it was chips), so I definitely can’t remember when specific pop culture things happened this year. Today, we’re talking about Kylie Jenner’s instantly iconic “Rise and Shine” song again, and I genuinely thought it had been like, three months since the video originally came out. Well, turns out it was almost exactly one month ago, so basically I’m losing my mind.

After Kylie Jenner’s non-song went totally viral, we reported that Kylie had filed to trademark “Rise and Shine” to be used on a variety of merchandise. She quickly came out with a pair of hoodies, both of which quickly sold out. While I’m still a little salty that I didn’t get my hands on one, it’s part of my new thing of like, saving money? It’s not going that well overall, but at least I didn’t drop $65 on a Kylie Jenner hoodie that’s not even going to be funny by the time it ships.

But over the weekend, it was reported that Kylie had begun to exercise her control over a phrase that people have been saying for years. Twitter account East Coast Renaissance posted on Friday that Kylie Jenner sent a cease and desist letter to “a family” selling Rise and Shine clothing. The tweet said that the family had been selling the shirts since 2017, but that they “don’t have the money to fight something like .”

The tweet quickly went viral, with people (hi) shaming Kylie for coming after people with way less money and resources than her. Casual reminder that Kylie is a billionaire, and she could retire today and never work again if she wanted to. This is like the equivalent of when Walmart opens a store in a small town and forces all the small, family-owned stores out of business. I get Kylie wanting to make her coins, but this kind of thing is not a good look.

If you Google Cased Clothing, there have been reports of legal action with Kylie since the end of October. The problem is, it apparently wasn’t even true. All the way back on November 1, Cased Clothing posted on their Instagram, saying they “have never had a problem with Kylie Jenner.” They explicitly say they haven’t received any letters, and basically say they would very much like to be excluded from this narrative.

View this post on Instagram

KYLIE HAS NOT SENT US ANY LETTERS. We are not being sued.. . . . All kardashian/Jenner “hate” comments will be deleted. We do not agree with bringing people down

A post shared by Casedclothing (@casedclothing) on

After the tweet from East Coast Renaissance blew up this weekend, Kylie herself had to step in and clear up the misunderstanding about this whole thing. On Friday, Kylie responded to the tweet, saying that the story was a lie.

But the story continued to spread even after her first reply, so on Sunday, she posted two more tweets, saying that she’s been loving all the memes, and making it crystal clear that she’s not suing anyone over this.

While I have a tendency to be skeptical about any claims the Kardashians and Jenners make, I have a feeling Kylie is telling the truth here. If she was taking legal action against anyone, it would probably end up as public information, and it would just make her look bad to lie about it. Besides, like I said before, she is a BILLIONAIRE, and really has no reason to be grabbing for more cash in a shady way like this.

That being said, Kylie did file to trademark the catchphrase, so if she’s approved, that might prevent people from making new “Rise and Shine” merch in the future. Basically, she’s not being petty with lawsuits and cease and desist letters, but she’s still setting herself up to make a ton of money off of this sh*t in the future. Good for her, I guess.

Images: Shutterstock; eastrenaissance, kyliejenner (2) / Twitter; casedclothing / Instagram

Kylie Jenner Is Trademarking ‘Rise And Shine’

Well, that didn’t take long. No one pounces on a potential business opportunity faster than a Kardashian-Jenner, and Kylie is officially cornering the market on “Rise and Shine.” After the entire world spent the last week making memes about Kylie Jenner’s instantly iconic singing moment, she’s filed trademark applications to make products with the phrase. After all the jokes we made at her expense, “Rise and Shine” really might be her path to world domination.

According to documents obtained by The Blast, last Thursday Kylie Jenner officially filed to obtain trademarks for both “Rise and Shine” and “Riiise and Shiiine,” and I applaud her for acknowledging both correct spellings of the phrase. Seriously, this is such a smart business move, and Kylie is already cashing in on her unexpectedly viral singing. On the same day she filed the trademark documents, she started selling two new hoodies on her website, and they’re both now sold out. This is probably a good thing, because I really don’t need to spend $65 on a Kylie Jenner hoodie, but I also can’t be trusted with money. The funny thing is, the website states that your “item will ship 4-5 weeks from date of purchase.” 4-5 WEEKS? So all these people spent $65 on a hoodie that they’re not going to get until a month after everyone has moved on from caring. This family truly is the worst.

Kylie Jenner isn’t just planning to use her new catchphrase on clothing, though. The trademark documents also include cosmetic products, suggesting that Kylie will definitely be doing a Rise and Shine-themed Kylie Cosmetics launch soon. Good god. This is 0% surprising, because Kylie basically uses everything in her life for makeup inspiration. A birthday collection? She does it every year. Collabs with her sisters and her mom? Of course. A line with her infant daughter’s name slapped on it? Anything goes. It’s probably only a matter of days before teenage girls are spending their birthday money on a Rise and Shine Kylighter and Kyshadow palette.

As we’ve discussed before, Kylie Jenner has plenty of experience with getting things trademarked. Through her company Kylie Jenner, Inc., she has dozens of trademarks, mostly for variations of her name and Kylie Cosmetics products. She also has Stormi’s name trademarked, because of course. Famously, she was denied when she tried to trademark the name “Kylie,” because that’s just a normal human name, and also, Kylie Minogue was famous way before her. This tweet is still iconic to me:

Hello….. My name is KYLIE #lightyears

— Kylie Minogue (@kylieminogue) February 28, 2016

Interestingly, the trademark documents don’t make any mention of Kylie using the phrase in a musical capacity, so my secret hopes fears that Kylie is going to use this as her foray into a music career seem unfounded, at least for the moment. I don’t think Kylie is a great singer or anything, but I will still shamelessly listen to a trashy pop song. I still have Kim Kardashian’s one pathetic attempt at music in my iTunes library, sue me.

It usually takes a while for these trademark applications to be approved, so for now, you can still buy Rise and Shine stuff that isn’t $65, like this Shop Betches mug. But before long, Kylie Jenner might be making another billion dollars off of her awkward singing. Honestly, I stan a genius.

Images: Shutterstock; kyliejennershop.com; kylieminogue / Twitter; Shop Betches