Lifes2Good in toothbrush dispute

Lifes2Good is facing a potentially bad row over a US lawsuit launched against the fast-growing Galway beauty products distributor by one of its suppliers. The Enterprise Ireland-backed company, which is run by west of Ireland entrepreneur and Galway Tenors singer James Murphy, is being sued by a boutique New York toothbrush manufacturer, Violife.

It alleges the Irish company breached a non-compete agreement and it wants more than $4 million in damages. Irish Response, the Galway holding company for Lifes2Good, has yet to file a defence to the claims, but it has told Violife it rejects its complaint.

In recent years, Lifes2Good struck a deal with Violife to distribute the US company’s Slim Sonic fancy electric toothbrush in the UK and Ireland. Violife said the deal has earned $1 million for the Irish company.

The New York company alleges in court documents that Lifes2Good recently started distributing its own electronic toothbrush, the Sonic Chic, to chains including Boots and Tesco. Violife alleges it couldn’t have been designed without using information gleaned from their commercial discussions.

“[This] is a greedy and unseemly attempt to take advantage of an American family business,” Violife complained.

Lifes2Good is growing at a ridiculously fast rate, mainly due to its Viviscal hair supplements range, lauded by celebrities including Miley Cyrus, Cate Blanchett, Gwyneth Paltrow and Minnie Driver. The company, which recently raised more than €5 million from investors, recorded sales last year of €42.3 million, up a third over the previous year.

It will surely brush up on its legal defence to Violife’s claims in time for the pretrial conference next week.