The concept of counterfeits is now a well accepted one in the UAE and in most countries in the region and there are many examples of administrative and judicial enforcements. However, the menace of look alike products seems to be the damaging order of the day and, although prevalent in the market place, is still in its early days on the legal scene.
The look alike phenomenon is parasitic behaviour by manufacturers who do not want to innovate but only want to imitate by using the exact same colour combinations and packaging of well-known products while applying a different word mark on the front of the pack. This causes huge damage to the brand and can affect consumer confidence in a product which they assume is a high value product and actually turns out to be a low value product as they purchased the wrong one. Hence, consumer protection issues are also involved with look likes as consumers need to be protected by making sure that a manufacturer clearly identifies the products it is selling and not trying to pass the products off as those of a major trusted manufacturer.
The UAE Government is now tackling look alikes and a number of approaches by brand owners have been made to various government departments on the issue of look alikes. The government acknowledges the issue and has been supportive in assisting in the fight of this menace.
In fact, various government departments have promised to notify right holders when products are either been imported or sold to allow them to take action.
The courts are now beginning to identify the fact that manufacturers of look alike products are on the increase and that limits need to be drawn to avoid them riding off the goodwill of the famous brand manufacturers.
Brand owners must also take such infringements to court and pursue actions under the intellectual property laws which are of international standards to ensure that case law is developed and to allow judges to penalize infringers of look alike products and to avoid new ones starting up.
“Some companies such as Mars, Inc. have already commenced such campaigns of pursuing legal actions before the courts against look alike products in most countries of the world to minimize the impact on it of such parasitic behaviour and to protect its consumers,” said Mr Khaled Alkaff, Master Foods GCC External Affairs Director.
“The consumers must be protected and brand owners must start to react to allow the law to develop and define borders for acceptable and not acceptable behaviour,” concluded Mr Alkaff.
