Brands sharpen claws against lookalike items

1. Brands Sharpen Claws
Against Lookalike Items
TIME TO ACT It's no longer just MNCs, even FMCG majors are
approaching the courts against cos launching copycat products to
protect their trademarks

2. Contd…
Last month, Marico chanced upon a hair oil brand that bore a striking
resemblance to its brand Parachute. The lookalike product was in a blue-
coloured bottle and even sported a similarsounding name Parajet.Marico
took legal action and a week ago, Mumbai-based Jin-X Healthcare agreed to
change its packaging and colour in an out-of-court settlement.
Pidilite Industries approached court last month to protect its industrial brand
Bulbond against local adhesive maker Superbond, which named its product
Bulkbond. Similarly, Godrej Consumer Products went to court to protect its
soap brand Godrej No 1 against SS Industries, which sold Nazar No 1.
Local companies copying the branding and packaging of popular products
isn't new.What's changed is the profile of the litigants domestic companies
are taking on desi rivals, quite a departure from a few years ago, when it was
multinationals dragging local companies to court to protect trademark
infringements.

3. Contd…
“Only MNCs like Hindustan Unilever and Procter & Gamble or domestic tobacco brands
were aggressive towards protecting their brands or the disputes were between families
members where brands such as `Parle' were disputed,“ said Suhas Tuljapurkar, founder of
law firm Legasis Partners. “Now, with more money being spent by domestic consumer
companies on brand build ing, they might as well protect the brand.“ Legal expenditure in
the fast-moving consumer sector increased over 17% to `. 810 crore during FY 2015 from a
year earlier as sales grew 7%, according to ET Intelligence Group.
Over the past few years, many consumer products companies have entered the rural areas
and gained market share from regional players.With huge marketing budgets, the bigger
companies gradually established their brands only to find the market filled with copycat
versions.
Dabur recently approached the Delhi High Court accusing Gujarat-based Zee Hygiene
Products of passing off its `Cocoplus Amla' as `Dabur Amla' hair oil. The court ruled in
Dabur's favour and the compa ny agreed to change the looka like brand to `Coco plus Amla
Hair Tonic.'

4. Contd…
“Many smaller manufactur ers are making copycats to make quick money by piggy backing
on establishe brands This not only hurts the compa ny's revenue but also brand image,“
said Ashok Jain, vice president, finance and compa ny secretary at Dabur.
According to intellectua property rights laws, “passing off “ refers to making a false
representation that is likely to induce consumers to believe that the goods or services are
those of another. “Many com panies use legal recourse pre-emptively as a business tool
rather than just as a defensive mechanism to protect their brand,“ said Rahul Chaudhry,
managing partner of boutique IPR law firm Lall Lahiri & Salhotra.
Experts said local companies, after their initial focus on mopping up higher sales, have now
realised the importance of brand building.
“The commitment towards creating and managing a brand and protecting its assets is far
more sincere,“ said Tina Jain Mehta, cofounder of Mumbai-based branding agency
Pineapple Consulting.“Across industries, companies are breaking the set rules of category,
be it colours, imagery or tone of voice.“

5. For details and bookings contact:-
Parveen Kumar Chadha… THINK TANK
(Founder and C.E.O of Saxbee Consultants & Other-Mother
marketingandcommunicationconsultants.com)
Email :-saxbeeconsultants@gmail.com
Mobile No. +91-9818308353
Address:-First Floor G-20(A), Kirti Nagar, New Delhi India Postal Code-110015