US federal judge: Lawsuit over social media allegations of hair accessory design theft can proceed

*From today's decision by Judge Ann Aiken (D. Ore.) in Owen v. Askew***

Key Allegations from Plaintiff's Complaint

Parties Involved

• Plaintiff Kursten Owen – An Oregon resident and owner of Elegance & Geekery, LLC, an Oregon-based business that sells accessories. The business had gross receipts of $190,310 in 2024. Plaintiff has been making and selling hair accessories through Elegance & Geekery for eight years.

• Defendant Breana Askew (dba Breromi) – A Georgia resident who also makes and sells hair accessories and maintains a large social media following.

• Defendant Kiandria Demone Boyce – A Georgia-based civil rights activist with a large social media following. Plaintiff alleges Ms. Boyce "weaponizes" her following to engage in "cyberbullying." Ms. Boyce is not alleged to be involved in the hair accessory business.

Timeline of Events

July 14, 2025

• Ms. Askew viewed a promotional video for Plaintiff's hair clips and concluded that Plaintiff's designs were copied from her own products.
• Plaintiff alleges her hair clip designs are materially different from Ms. Askew's and were developed independently from scratch.
• That evening, Ms. Askew began posting comments on Plaintiff's business social media pages accusing Plaintiff of intellectual property infringement.
• Ms. Askew sent Plaintiff a "Cease & Desist" email threatening legal action.
• Less than one hour after sending the email, Ms. Askew posted on social media accusing Plaintiff of stealing her designs and urged followers to report Plaintiff's business for selling "rip offs."

July 15, 2025

• Ms. Boyce contacted Ms. Askew via social media and requested Plaintiff's business account information, which Ms. Askew provided.
• Ms. Boyce commented that Plaintiff "has yet to meet a bully honestly. I've been busy today."
• Plaintiff publicly responded to Ms. Askew's accusations, denying any infringement.
• Shortly after, Ms. Boyce posted a response accusing Plaintiff of theft, which garnered significant attention.
• Ms. Boyce made additional posts instructing followers to report Plaintiff's business and post negative reviews on Facebook.
• Both defendants posted links and detailed instructions for followers to contact Shopify (Plaintiff's e-commerce platform) and report that Plaintiff was illegally selling counterfeit products.

July 17, 2025

• Ms. Boyce posted a video directed at Plaintiff, stating in part: "If you value that business and that website, I would think twice before you continue to play the game you're playing … the real bully has entered the chat. I promise you, you haven't seen anything yet … I'm the one who made the viral post about it."
• Ms. Boyce continued: "Bre [Ms. Askew] didn't send a hate mob after you. I did … this was orchestrated because at this point, you fucking know that this was not an original idea. You know that it was stolen from a black creator, and you are still doing backflips to make excuses for that."
• She further stated: "Keep antagonizing this black woman. Keep going back and forth with her. Keep gaslighting her and painting her out to be the aggressor. When you are the one who stole her design. Keep doing it. Just go ahead and keep engaging it. And I promise you, going to court with Bre [Ms. Askew] is going to be the least of your worries. Google me, Google Kiandria Demone. And then keep on antagonizing this black woman. And you're going to find out exactly who the fuck I am."

Plaintiff's Position

Plaintiff maintains that:

• Her designs were independently developed and are materially different from Ms. Askew's products
• Ms. Askew lacks any enforceable intellectual property rights over her products
• The defendants orchestrated a coordinated campaign of harassment and cyberbullying