Tripping Over Trips

In yet another instance, Nestle filed a complaint against companies that were copying its chocolate `Kit Kat and selling it as `Kit Kit. The court has ordered seizure of all such products and banned its sale and production in the future.

More and more companies are fighting over design, trademark and patent infringements in India. But weak laws, understaffed patent registration and policing offices, and lack of awareness has meant that such cases are choking up the courts instead of deterring miscreants.

The problem of imitations in the corporate world is not new. But as companies like P&G, SB, Nestle, Hoechst, Marico and a host of others are finding out, it is not as easily ignored in the past. Especially as the companies foray into markets where brand awareness is low and the chances of fly-by-night operators getting by with spurious look-alikes high.

 

For example, take Nestles brush with the `Kit Kat me-too makers. The company found that small towns close to Delhi like Nainital and Shahjahanpur were being flooded by cheap chocolates which copied the `Kit Kat design, shape and packaging. Nestle went to court against one manufacturer selling a product called `Kit Kit. The court ruled in Nestles favour, not on the grounds that Nestles trademark rights were being violated but, because the sale of spurious chocolates were a health hazard.

In a similar example, Marico Industries is set to sue a Jaipur-based company for copying the design of the companys brand `Parachute hair oil and selling it under the brand name `Parker. Parachute has other look-alikes selling under the names `Purepearl, `Prashant and `Paropal, but Marico can do little about these, as the companies that make these brands, are untraceable.

In fact, what Marico and other companies trying to clamp down on the spurious copies, say is that the monitoring office