In the legal battle between L'Oréal's distinctly identifiable branded perfumes and the copy-cat producer Bellure, which makes lookalike fragrances packaged very much like those of L'Oréal, the winner is . . . L'Oréal. (This updates my Chapter 6 coverage of packaging and branding.)According to Brand Republic, "The European Court of Justice has ruled in favour of cosmetics company L'Oréal in its trade mark battle with Belgian perfume manufacture Bellure, in a case which sets a precedent for penalising look-a-like products for free-riding on the marketing of those they copy."
Bellure had been marketing low-priced copy-cat perfumes very similar to the famous L'Oréal fragrances, which L'Oréal said was an unfair advantage. L'Oréal is one of the world's largest cosmetics companies, with an annual turnover of 17.5 billion euros and 23 global brands that each earn 50 million euros or more in any given year.
The Financial Times quotes Geoff Steward, a partner at the London law firm Macfarlanes, as saying: "The L'Oréal decision should sound the death knell on look-alike and own-label products."
What's next for name brands and their copy-cats?
