WHAT TO DO WHEN COMPETITORS COPY THE APPEARANCE OF YOUR GOODS AND DISTRIBUTE THEM ON THE INTERNET?

Are you a business owner? Have you been building your corporate style for a long time, creating the look of your products? One day you witnessed, say, how on Instagram a person on a recently created page publishes content that demonstrates an identity with your product.

Of course, such unfair actions of competitors can negatively affect both the flow of customers and the competitiveness of the enterprise as a brand.

To begin with, at your own discretion, you can try to simply contact the owner of the relevant page with a request to remove content that reflects the nature of the copied product, or simply its design in accordance with what is produced and sold by your company. At the same time, you should try to calmly explain to the person who copies your product that such actions cause significant damage, violate the right to intellectual property and cause you, in addition to material damage, also moral damage.

If this does not work, you will have to go to a lawyer in a similar field, or immediately try to go to court yourself.

So what do you need to know in order to resolve this issue?

First, it is worth paying attention to the regulatory framework. Legislation in the field of protection against unfair competition stipulates that copying the appearance of goods, repeating its visual features containing elements of individual corporate identity, with the subsequent sale of such goods by another company without specifying the appropriate manufacturer of such copies, which may lead to confusion another business entity.

However, there is a fine line in this direction with the violation of intellectual property rights, ie in certain cases, copying the corporate style, appearance of the goods may fall under the legislation in the field of protection of intellectual property rights and related rights.

It is worth noting that it is not considered illegal to copy the appearance of the brand or part thereof, if such copying is due solely to its functional application.

That is, it means that the product can be similar only in those elements that make it usable.

At the same time, Article 33 of the Commercial Code of Ukraine stipulates that the following are recognized as illegal use of the business reputation of an economic entity:

• misuse of other people's symbols, advertising materials, packaging;
• illegal use of goods from another manufacturer;
• copying the appearance of a product from another manufacturer;
• comparative advertising, if such advertising violates the requirements of the legislation of Ukraine on advertising, protection against unfair competition or such advertising can be qualified as unfair business practices.

Thus, the legislation provides sufficient grounds for protection. All you need to do is turn to a specialist who specializes in protecting business reputation, honor and dignity, protection from unfair competition, who can responsibly and knowledgeably provide you with qualified assistance. We have considerable experience in such matters and know how to act.