Smells like perfume
litigation is in the air again, according to the telegraph,
the Italian fashion house Prada is bringing a legal claim against, Preferred Fragrance Inc - a company that
specialises in making affordable designer knock-off scents, which emulate or
resemble the fragrances of famous top-end perfumes.
Prada claims
Preferred has violated its Prada Candy copyright when the company came out with
Party Candy perfume, and they also state that the fragrance is a knock off of
its trademark. Prada Candy retails for $82, and the Party Candy fragrance
at a much cheaper price of $3.99.
The Goss-IP girl has
done some research and the name of the Prada candy perfume is trademarked, so
the packaging may be protected trade dress, the text on the box may be
copyrighted, on face value the Goss-IP girl notes that there are clear
similarities between the packaging of the two boxes, there are slight
differences, but these are nominal and given the similarity of the trade dress
between the two fragrances, it will be interesting to see what the courts make
of this.
License to s[m]ell?
Different countries have different laws
relating to protection of perfumes, however, generally, it is not illegal to
create or distribute smell-alikes. In terms of copyright, the chemical
composition of perfumes are not treated as a tangible form of expression to
claim copyright protection. Instead, disputes between the perfume brands and
copycats are resolved by assessing circumstances for trademark infringement,
trade dress or unfair competition.
Looking at the two
fragrances below the Goss-IP girl wonders: if you think Prada does have a case?
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