Big BlakSaks wins injunction over copycat packaging
Big BlakSaks has come out victorious after winning an injunction against D & A Marketing's 4U ‘copycat' black rubbish bags for breaching and passing off the Fair Trading Act.
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Big BlakSaks has come out victorious after winning an injunction against D & A Marketing’s 4U ‘copycat’ black rubbish bags for breaching and passing off the Fair Trading Act.
With Big BlakSaks’ 30-year reputation in the New Zealand market keeping with their original format of recycled black rubbish bags, it had objected strongly to the newly re-packaged 4U bags’ similar design.
The High Court Judge made a note of D & A Marketing’s packaging relating to their 4U Drawstring 5s, 4U Handle 5s and 4U Cost Less 5s as being “seriously arguably deliberately calculated to mislead consumers.”
A quality issue with D & A Marketing’s products was also acknowledged by the High Court Judge as being possibly damaging to Big BlakSaks’ good reputation.
Jenni Rutter of Kensington Swan, legal counsel for Big BlakSaks says, “It's unusual to see such close copying of packaging. It should be reassuring for New Zealand businesses that simple packaging features combined in a unique way will be protected by the courts.”
Big BlakSaks has said that D & A Marketing was caught copying their initial design of the 4U bags and believes supermarkets will support this court decision, saying that the stores would not want to mislead customers into purchasing a misleading product.
NBR staff
Wed, 31 Aug 2011
Wed, 31 Aug 2011
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Big BlakSaks wins injunction over copycat packaging
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