Los Angeles, Jan 14 (IANS): The Kardashian sisters - Kim, Kourtney and Khloe - are being sued for $10 million by make-up artist Lee Tillett who claims they stole the name of their new cosmetics range, Khroma Beauty, from her.

Tillett is also asking for damages from Boldface Group Inc, the company that markets their line, after a cease-and-desist letter sent in July last year imploring them to stop using the name failed to work.

"I developed the Kroma line myself, built my business through my own hard work and took the legal steps necessary to protect it," showbizspy.com quoted Tillett as saying.

"And yet I have now been forced into legal battle with the Kardashians simply because they have decided to take something that doesn't belong to them," she added.

Boldface petitioned a Florida court to rule Tillett's brand name "conceptually weak", because it "consists solely of a descriptive term and lacks any inherent distinctive meaning to the relevant consuming public".

The make-up artist, who set up her line in 2004, responded by claiming the confusion over the names is affecting her business as customers assume it is connected with the Kardashian sisters' recently-launched products.

"The false association is damaging and threatens to destroy its business," Tillett said.