The complainant said the practice by those companies was harming its business interest and its hard-earned goodwill among consumers, according to a press release issued here on Wednesday.
The CCP's enquiry found that the nine companies were infringing the trademark and imitating the trade dress (packaging size, colour combinations, logo design, label design, text, font type, size etc.) of Al-Rehman's Taizgaam, resorting to copycat packaging or parasitic copying, which is a violation of Section 10 of the Competition Act, 2010. Show cause notices were issued to them on the recommendation of the enquiry report.
During the hearings, majority of these companies expressed their willingness to comply with CCP's directions. The CCP's bench imposed a penalty of Rs 300,000 on each of the nine companies for violating Section 10 of the Competition Act and directed them to stop using "Taizgaam" with their products.
The CCP's order said that parasitic copying of the packaging and labelling of Al-Rehman Oil Mills products was misleading, deceptive, and could harm its business interests. Such conduct was intended to take advantage of the goodwill attached to the complainant's trademark. The companies were also directed to file individual compliance reports with CCP within 30 days.
The CCP is mandated under the Competition Act to ensure free competition in all spheres of commercial and economic activity, to enhance economic efficiency and to protect consumers from anti-competitive practices including deceptive marketing practices.-PR