EC-funded study recommends reforms to fight parasitic copying in Europe
EU protection of brands against parasitic copying is weak, says law firm
International Anglo-American law firm Hogan Lovells has warned protection offered by the European Union (EU) to brand-dependent companies such as cosmetics businesses against parasitic copying is weak. The practice where rival companies exploit the value of another brand by producing similar or identical packaging was not, said Hogan Lovells in a European Commission-funded report, a key target of the EU’s unfair commercial practices directive.
Its parasitic copying protection “was at best incidental and…not consistently applied across the European Union,” said the report. Should Brussels decide a directive on the subject was needed, it should be “clear and precise” and ensure copying claims be heard by specialist courts, it argued.